How Clothes Weave Memories

Sweater time

I believe it was just three weeks I go I wrote something like “it’s finally summer here in Chamonix and contrary to fashion media and brand product release schedules I am not thinking about sweaters or down jackets”. Well, jokes on me. I woke up this morning with a bright shade of white coloring my window-the peaks freshly dusted with snow. While walking to the center of the village I wore not just a sweater, but a down jacket, hat and mittens too. I guess it is time to talk sweaters…

Sweaters are, hands down, my favorite article of clothing. The infatuation probably came from my mother whose collection I’m always trying to steal from (hi mom, sorry mom). There’s just something about a sweater. The craftwork that goes into them. The use of natural fibers. The way they can keep you warm and cozy. They are timeless-both in style and if purchased well, in their lifespan. When I clean out my closet, it’s rare that sweaters end up in the give-away pile.

Despite it being a few weeks earlier than I thought, I knew I wanted to share my experience of buying or being gifted sweaters here (Sus you can blame the weather on a sweater post trumping a shorts post). I wanted to share my experience of which ones have held up and which ones were worth the splurge.

Serendipitously, through this community, I met two women who pushed my thought process of buying even further. Who opened my brain up to not just new brands but a deeper education on textiles and sustainability.

As a result-what was going to be one post on sweaters, will now be three. Considerations for buying, my own experience of brands that I’ve been happy with and not, and lastly how to style them as we enter fall and then winter. All aboard the sweater train!

I met Toggser 1, Ella, while she was in town for UTMB. Over coffee I learned that she worked for Land to Market, the world's first outcomes-based verified regenerative sourcing solution. We got to chatting about sustainability in sourcing fabrics. We discussed how challenging traceability truly is, and that there is not just one clear answer when it comes to buying “well”.

When I asked her if she had advice for us, she said: “I think sustainable can exist but it’s really hard for larger brands to do because they have to source such a large amount [of material] that it is hard to get it from one location and have full traceability through their supply chain. I’ve pretty much come to think of any sweater from a big brand that is RWS wool certified or something similar to be a step up from synthetics or fast fashion but I think there is still a lot to be desired from them. That said I am a huge component of wool… I think it’s one of the more sustainable materials and if you can find some of those little brands that have full traceability and are really making an effort to be as green as possible I feel pretty good supporting them (even though they are usually pretty pricy). I’ve really been leaning towards the thicker more durable wool sweaters myself and then it’s a bit easier to see them as an investment piece that will hopefully last a lifetime with good care and some light darning (which I have been finding the coolest Pinterest ideas)”

From Ella, I started looking into smaller brands offering sweaters and came across the brand, and the person Mairin, who happens to also be apart of the TOGS community.

Sidenote: all of you reading really are so wonderful and we love the reciprocity of knowledge and always open for more!

Mairin graciously let me pick her brain for an hour while she was in Japan. It reminded me how much there is to learn in the world, and I loved how it lit up my brain. Now I can’t stop thinking about clothes in a more fascinating way then just styling and am looking forward to learning so much more…

Mairin is from Montana. It should come as no surprise that a daughter of an environmental lawyer and fabric store owner would work in sustainable fashion. She started at a non profit that worked with cotton farmers and then with Christy Dawn in LA where they were focused on growing their supply chains from deadstock fabrics to new textiles that kept the earth and people in mind.

Our conversation was truly delightful and there is so much to share from what she taught me. I’ve broken it down into two main considerations below. Her substack is also a great resource if you’re looking to dive deeper on all textiles.

Consideration 1: Where do fabrics come from, what kind of environment do they grow in and at what scale?

It seems obvious, but I had never really drawn the line between what environment a fabric comes from having an impact on what environment I wear the garment in. There’s a lot of focus in the food industry around this idea, but something rarely talked about in the clothing industry except for maybe the fisherman’s sweater. Mairin pointed out that this is really true when we think about our clothes offering us protection-ie what we wear to play in the outdoors. You don’t see animals wrapped in plastic out bracing against a snow storm, so why do we? At this point we dove into one of my favorite tangents-word choice in the outdoors… are animals bracing against the storm, or just living within it? Why do we say we are conquering a mountain, I’m not aware of nature verbalizing war against us skiers and climbers? But let’s get back to fabrics….

For example-cotton is grown mostly near the equator, which makes it a great fabric for sweaters worn in warm weather environments and seasons.

Cashmere comes from a specific bread of goats who in their natural state roam free and rarely do you see large herds of goats. It’s a fringe fabric that cannot sustain its demand and it is the animals and the communities and environments around them that pay the price of our love of the soft, delicate end result (I myself am very much guilty of contributing to this demand).

Mairin writes in her own substack on sourcing and creating wool sweaters: “Wool's purpose is to respond to the outside environment to keep sheep warm, dry, and comfortable. Most of Argentina’s wool comes from Patagonia where the low temperatures, high winds, and dryness make grazing sheep one of the only agriculture options. These sheep roam in valleys close to the Arctic with huge glacial peaks towering around them. The resulting wool is extremely efficient at keeping you warm in the cold. 

Knowing where my raw materials come from allows me to make more informed design decisions. Wool from near the Arctic is perfect for a sweater whose main function is to keep you warm. You can always take a sweater off, as opposed to a baselayer, which needs to be more dynamic. For my baselayers, I use wool from Oregon, Colorado, and California- landscapes that experience cold winters and hot summers.”

Alpaca on the other hand live in high alpine landscapes so unlike wool’s temperature regulating capabilities, alpaca is a great fabric if you need to just stay really warm up high.

In summation-nature is pretty dang smart and as humans, relying on the materials and systems found in nature can help us in our quest to stay comfortable in the elements. (this podcast is great for expanding on this idea)

“Sustainability” has many different variables

Let’s take a wool sweater. It starts with a sheep that lives most likely in Australia but could be in New Zealand, South America, Spain, Ireland, Scotland, England or the US. The wool is sheered off the sheep once a year (with varying degrees of humanity). Co-ops buy from all the farmers where it is then processed, sorted, and cleaned. Sometimes this happens near the sheep, and sometimes not. The wool’s next stop is a spinning mill in China. There are some mills in the country of the wool’s origin or processing plant, but the majority of the world’s mills are in China. That yarn is either kept in China for knitting or resent all over the world. Then it’s either sent straight to you, or to a store, or a warehouse and in the worst of cases sent to a landfill. Before the sweater is even pulled over our heads, it’s gone on it’s own global journey. It’s then rather obvious that it’s hard to trace all aspects and impacts of one sweater.

But there’s a few things we can look for in a sweater that improves it chances that it was made with the health of the natural material, environment, and communities in mind.

-buy single fiber sweaters, avoiding in particular synthetic mixes.

-buy from smaller companies who can manage the tracing better with smaller fabric stock requirements.

-avoid wool that’s been super-washed. This can be hard to get information on, but the brands making sweaters without that process will probably include it in their marketing.

-Peru is often a reliable source for sourcing and there is an active ethos around fair trade certs.

-look for undyed sweaters which most likely won’t be super-washed so they’ll be better at regulating your temperature and forgo synthetic dyes and chemicals. Sheep are now bread to have white fur which has all sorts of health and diversity impacts on the animals. Embrace the natural greys and browns.

And then there’s the less tangible ideas around sustainability. Clothing is our creative expression. A “sustainable” sweater that checks all the right boxes worn only five times because you don’t actually like the style of it is arguably less sustainable than the sweater from a bigger brand that you wear three times a week. A good sweater is one you wear anywhere and often-from a fancy dinner, to the garden, to a rock wall. Sweaters are clothing to be cherished. And hopefully passed down-the memories woven into the threads through generations.

Mairin’s sweaters (pictured above) and base layers are available here.

In the end, it’s clear to me that the process of buying isn’t black and white. Nothing ever is. But I do feel like after talking with Ella and Mairin that I’ll be more thoughtful with future purchases. And maybe that’s the best place to start-be it for a sweater or a dress or what I’m going to have for lunch.

Thank you to Ella and Mairin for expanding my knowledge. This community warms my heart!!

-Hadley

PS I’ve started researching brands that make quality, thoughtfully sourced sweaters for post two but I’d love to hear from you if you’ve had a good experience with a particular brand/sweater. The list has started with Babaa, &daughter, L’envers, Finisterre, and Celestina and of course MAIRIN!