Many of the yarns are vegan, and the company also reuses water, uses nontoxic dyes and mordants, and supports other green businesses when possible.
I chatted with Wisbeck recently about what it means to be an environmentally responsible yarn company (and crafter).
About: How do you define eco-friendly when it comes to yarn?
Jenn Wisbeck: Eco-friendly is defined differently depending on the fiber a yarn is composed of. I don’t think there is really a "one size fits all" for yarn since it is such a continuum of choices that are available, so one product might not necessarily be better than another. For example, I am not as concerned about wool being organic as I am for cotton. I would like to see more soy, corn, and other so-called "alternative" fibers use dyes that are better for the environment.
About: How is your yarn production process less stressful to the environment than the conventional ways of doing things?
JW: Well first off, my dyes and mordants aren’t toxic. The somewhat ironic part of natural dyes is that they can require quite a bit of water to rinse out (as do many cellulose chemical dyes). To counteract the effect of the water consumption I do low-water dye methods, use greywater, and extract the water from the yarn and fibers between rinsings. I don’t wrap my yarns up in plastics to set the dye, I use a really, really giant pot instead-the heaviest I can lift from a stove with it full of water and yarn.
About: Do you think it's important for people to consider where their yarn comes from and what it's made of? Why?JW: Yes yes yes! Yarn is quite a bit like food choices. Do you choose the locally produced yarn from a small artisan or a small farm or the big company’s organic cotton?
About: Are you seeing more demand for eco-friendly/vegan yarns than in the past, or more customers asking where your yarn comes from and how it's produced?
JW: I have always been very open about where and how I make my yarn. This isn’t a new scientific breakthrough with dyes or how the yarn is spun, so it’s not top secret. Plus, I think consumers need to ask the hard questions about where products come from. There needs to be company accountability, and it is hardly fair to say I think we should ask the big companies to be accountable if I am not too.
The part that is really hard is that you can’t be the greenest possible and have a consistent quality. For me that means that I have had to sacrifice some of the "green" factor. For example, my fibers come from smaller companies, but since I need the consistency for many of my products I don’t use the really small farms--I need to be able to get many, many pounds of fleece. I still do get fleeces from small farmers, but they are not the base fiber.
I also don’t get to process the wool myself from fleece to roving (most of the time). For me this is a tradeoff--it is more green for me to live and work in a smaller space, so I only process small batches of wool from the raw fleece to the end product of fiber or yarn, the rest comes to me in roving or washed locks.
Likewise, my dyes come from all over the world. They are grown mostly by co-ops and groups that are trying to maintain traditional cultures. But they are supporting many small businesses, including the company I get the dyes from. I interned with them for nine months, and they are local and woman run.
There’s also still not a lot of vegan yarns being produced that are naturally dyed. It’s hard to find good fibers to work with that make a really good substitute for wool or that are really unique that don’t contain acrylic or other synthetics.
About: Where do you see this genre of the yarn production business going in the future?
JW: Let’s face it--yarn and fibers are expensive. I think there is going to be more of a shift towards yarns for the everyday market--the Cascade 220 and Lamb’s Pride basics that people rely on. Hopefully they will become greener as time goes on. I don’t think novelty yarns are going to go away, but I do think there is going to be a shift towards the more unusual, the handspun. I think there will also be more of a movement towards the green side--it’s hip, it’s in right now. I think it is the direction things really need to go in.
