'Making an Effort' highlights designers & crafters who use eco-friendly methods and/or materials where possible in creating their products. The entirety of their collections may not be 100% organic or green or recycled, but they're trying and that's the point. They're making an effort. Doing something is better than doing nothing at all. Would you like to be considered for this feature? Email me.
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This week, Taylor Brown from Fisherman's Daughter (Cape Cod) shares her work & philosophies with us. Taylor creates "one-of-a-kind, ocean-inspired, eco-friendly clothing & accessories." Her designs are a sweet mix of edgy & modern and soft & feminine. I fell madly in love with her thermal seaweed scarves and fingerless gloves! Now I just need to find a vintage coat to match....
What do you create?
Clothing and accessories for the ocean muse.
What materials do you use?
Certified organic cotton thermals, striped rib knits, and cotton thread.
USA grown and milled as much as possible.
Some recycled natural fabrics, remnants.
What made you decide to use organic textiles in your products?
I grew up on Cape Cod with the ocean as a second home. My dad was a fisherman and my mom stripped his fishing nets so I spent hours and hours down at the pier and the beach picking shells and feeding seagulls. When I wasn't there I was with one of my grandmothers. Both were seamstresses; one a swimwear designer with a small custom clothing shop in town. I would sit and play with their fabric and started making clothing for my dolls when I was 4 or 5. I started shellfishing to make money to put myself through college and made headbands to keep my hair out of my face while I worked. I got my degree in Fashion Design from Mass College of Art in Boston. I was awarded a scholarship to travel and study art in Vietnam through MassArt. I loved Vietnam so I moved out there for a year to work for Ngo Thai Nguyen as a Fashion Designer. The company was Vietnamese; a Vietnamese Fashion Design Atelier and Design studio with ties to the Vietnamese government and so the factories I visited were run by the government. They were sanitary but they had no regard for nature or the people working with chemicals. No ventilation, no regard for harmful toxins. I went to factories in Thailand and Indonesia as well and noticed the same thing. And all along noticing the dirty water, the dirty rivers, the dirty ocean with rats and oil and chemicals lining the beaches. I cried, and I cried, and I promised myself and I promised the ocean that I would do my best to contribute in the best way I know how to love her and human beings. I have to wear a mask when I sew because the fibers and chemicals coming from the fabrics make me sick. With the organics at least I know that I am trying my hardest not to have respiratory disease or throat cancer (two common side effects of long term sewing).
Do your customers seek out organics?
I really hope so. I feel that it makes my designs more appealing. Organics are a trend. There's alot going on with mother nature and the environment is something that people are really thinking about. Unfortunately, there are soooo many companies that buy "organic" fabrics from the USA, and Asia, and Europeand and wherever that are supposedly certified organics. But I know from my experience how corrupt and manipulative the world's system of doing business can be.
What is the biggest challenge in using organics: sourcing, price, variety, etc?
Last time I checked there were only 1800 acres of organic farmland in the USA growing certified organic cottons. Supplies and varieties are limited. Chemicals for dyeing and printing on fabric have not been perfected by the bigger mills so it's very hard to buy fabrics that are affordable to design with when trying to produce products that are saleable to the mass public. The mass public doesn't want to spend what a real organic product is worth because they are used to the disposable clothing that is so cheap. I feel like awareness is getting better but people really need to believe in fair wages, and good clean products in order for these things to exist.
Do you have plans to incorporate more eco-friendly materials in your products?
I want to work with local USA based designers and artists like yourself [thank you, Taylor!] to create products that are cool and hip and fun and worth spending the extra money on to love mother nature; because essentially we are loving ourselves and our children.
Anything else to add?
This is not easy. Organic fabrics are not easy to source, and they cut out a large profit but at the end of the day I feel like I am trying to educate by being an example. People need to be shown how to change their habits and I have the ability to show designers what possibilities there are to create using organics.
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Thank you for sharing your ideas & ideals with us, Taylor! The effort you're making is commendable and very much appreciated!
Fisherman's Daughter | main
Fisherman's Daughter | etsy
