local global 2

More thoughts about this local/global issue from reading the Transition Town Handbook. There is a chart in the handbook outlining a vision for what products could be produced at what scale in the UK. They propose that food would be produced at a 'village' scale, whereas clothing and textiles would be produced 'nationally'. i.e somewhere in the UK. This suggests that textiles/clothing could be made at a manufactured, non-bespoke level but atleast it was still 'local', rather than manufactured in the Far East (and it could utilise all the UK textile wastestreams to produce upcycled product).

But where will our bespoke, handmade pieces come from ? I would suggest both at a UK 'village' level and at a non-UK 'village' level.

Maybe our ideal re-localised textiles/clothing vision for the UK could have several layers to it:

1. Bespoke textiles/clothing at a UK 'village' level, someone like Naomi Paul who handmade the cushions pictured above.

2. Manufactured virgin material/upcycled materials at a UK 'national' level

3. Bespoke textiles/clothing in collaboration with non-UK communinties/'village' level

In this way, we would be nurturing all the skill and talent of makers in the UK, using up textile waste and producing our basic clothing needs in the UK and also still benefiting from cross-cultural collaboration with non-UK craft communities.

Sounds good to me.....