Symposium Afternoon Info!

Immediately following the morning speaker/fashion-show/connection-making downstairs— join us upstairs for some hands-on learning, vendor, a clothing swap, a seed swap, bring-your-own-screen-printing, and more!

January 24 at 78th Street Studios

1:00-2:00 pm: morning symposium ticket holders only

2:00-4:00 pm: Free and open to general public

Address: W 78th Street Studios, 1300 W 78th St. Cleveland, OH 44102

Ever wondered what alpaca fleece feels like? How to crochet, sew, or felt? What botanical dyes are? How to create beautiful things out of native grasses? How linen is made? Want to buy local, beautiful fiber for knitting and other projects directly from farmers? Support slow fashion makers in our region? Learn about mycelium as a building/interior design material?

Check out our Hands-On Learning Tables, Vendor Listings, and Info Tables Below!

For full Saturday agenda and details, please see the main symposium page.

And please know that none of this would happen without our sponsors. See our sponsor page for more info!

LEARNING TABLE/DEMO HOSTS:

We are still finalizing our learning table/demo list— more to come :)

Bring-Your-Own-Textile
Screen Printing Station

Hosted by Taryn McMahon, Aoife Mooney, and Fi Burnham.

Bring your own thrifted or used t-shirt, tote bag, bandana, or other fabric for a hands-on live demonstration of sustainable screenprinting! We will have artworks burned on screens ready to screenprint onto t-shits, bandanas, tote bags, or other fabric that attendees bring with them. The artworks are inspired by the sustainable materials used in the Rust Belt Fibershed, including alpaca, indigo, and flax.

The artists who created the print, and the ones making your prints:

…and we’re still finalizing more learning tables— stay tuned!

For full weekend agenda and details, please see the main symposium page.

Clothing Swap Station

This year the symposium clothing swap will be run by our partner, Circular Thrift, LLC. They’ll help us collect data on clothes that are swapped in and out!

Here is how to participate!

1. Register for the main event on the 24th at 78th street studios!

2. Choose 1-5 well-loved items, clean and in quality condition (t-shirts, pants, sweatshirts, blouses, jackets, shoes, purses, belts, etc.) to bring to the symposium.

3. Upon arriving around 8:30 am, turn in each item to the clothing swap station for a ticket. 1 item = 1 ticket.

4. During the speaker series, our volunteers will organize the clothing to be ready for you after the speaker series, around 1pm.

5. After the speaker series, head up to the clothing swap and cash in your tickets for any item of your choosing.

6. Any unclaimed items will be free to the public after 2pm (without needing tickets).

7. Any unclaimed items after the event will try to be placed with a new loving owner, upcycled, or donated.
   After the fashion show, we’ll open the swap for morning symposium-goers!

From Circular Thrift’s Website: “The world produces 92 million tons of textile waste every year. And every year, the global apparel manufacturing process creates 8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. The majority of the 92 million tons of annual clothing waste is made of materials created with fossil fuels, which means our addiction to fast fashion is adding more microplastics to our oceans, waterways and bodies.

To address the textile waste crisis we need to make big changes in our consumption habits. At Circular Thrift, our goal is to help guide that evolution, one neighborhood at a time, by offering tools, resources, connections and education to empower champions of sustainability to shift habits and mindsets at a hyperlocal level. We’re growing our community of sustainability experts and community champions to spark the cultural shift needed to meaningfully address the waste crisis. Join the community, and let’s make change together.

Seed Swap Station

Back for a second year, and hosted by Isaac Coblentz and Paige Rutz!

Bring any seeds, plants, cuttings, dyestuff or fiber goods/fiber tools to swap at this station! We’ll be swapping from 1:00-4:00! If you attend the morning speaker session, you can drop off before the session. If you’re coming to the free--and-open-to-the-public-portion from 2-4, just come then!

VENDORS

We are still finalizing our vendor list— this is just the beginning! :)

More Vendors Coming!

Fiber Farms

yarn, fleece, raw wool, hides

The Buzzard Farm
The Buzzard Farm is a regional alpaca yarn supplier located in Western Pennsylvania. Previously slinging yarn from our own alpacas, we now source from farms who want to offset fiber while focusing on genetics. This symposium will be the last year selling yarn from our six alpaca and five sheep and we hope to see you there!
Instagram | Website

Powers Acres / Oxbow Orchard
Oxbow Orchard and Powers Acres raise Icelandic sheep on regenerative farms in Northeast Ohio. We transform the wool we produce into beautiful yarn and felt products that we sell at our farm store and at local farmer's markets. Our farming efforts go beyond mere production, we are cultivating a deeper connection between our community and the land.
Powers Acres: Instagram | Website
Oxbow Orchard: Instagram | Website

Fabric, Fiber & Notions

Great Lakes Natural Fibers, Inc
We are repurposing non-textile wool into the agricultural landscape with wool pellets as a soil amendment and felted wool mats for weed control and soil moisture retention. Our wool felt mats repurpose fiber mill waste, transforming it into a high-value, regenerative gardening resource. This directly aligns with Rust Belt Fibershed values and the principles of circular/sustainable textiles by diverting waste and supporting local, profitable small-scale farming. Our MISSION is to add value to these fibers and benefit ranchers, working toward our VISION of reducing the agricultural carbon footprint.
Website

Blue Thistle Fibers
Blue Thistle Fibers offers small-batch fiber processing and natural dyeing services from our West Virginia Mini Mill. We dye yarns, fabrics, knitwear, and processed wool using flowers grown on our urban farm, foraged materials, and plants from our network of small producers.
Instagram | Website

Sue Spargo & Co
Sue Spargo & Co supplies the quilting industry with high quality fabrics, threads & tools to create. We believe in sourcing as locally and as sustainably as possible, supporting minority owned & woman owned businesses. We offer a wide range of products, but specialize in hand dyed fabrics and creative stitching kits.
Instagram | Website

Tansy Recycling
Tansy Recycling is a small scale DIY plastic recycling organization. We manufacture 100% recycled plastic beads and buttons and naturally dye upcycled clothing.
Instagram | Website

Finished Goods

Upcycle/Scrap Reuse

Flux Bene
FLUX BENE is a line of zero-waste garments & accessories thoughtfully created in Pittsburgh, PA. All Flux Benes are one of a kind, gender neutral and made from upcycled materials. Care is taken to ensure that each piece is constructed to last and that an inclusive of sizing options are available. Pockets!
Instagram | Website

Local Cut & Sew

Faan Slow Goods
Faan is a slow fashion brand creating workwear-inspired unisex pieces from organic and salvaged fabrics since 2015. Each piece is cut and sewn by a small team in Cleveland, and every production scrap is reused or composted. Faan’s domestic supply chain, organic sourcing and natural dye program underpin our mission to help establish a circular model for apparel production within the Rustbelt Fibershed.
Instagram | Website

Vintage

Coatrack Vintage & Repair
Coatrack Vintage & Repair, founded by Sage Dye and assisted by Danielle Bemus, is a secondhand clothing and repair business aiming to preserve and further the lifecycle of existing clothing in the Midwest. Sage utilizes her background as a textile sourcer and apparel producer to select high quality clothing, and all garments are repaired and cleaned beforehand. Alongside their wares, Sage offers her garment knowledge for commission garment repair and leather cleaning to the public.
Instagram | Website

Natural Dyes

Praxis Fiber Workshop
Praxis Fiber Workshop builds the international network of fiber artists and makers through classes, workshops, residencies, and collaborative projects that teach the art form and demonstrate how fiber art can be used to build healthy, resilient, and inclusive communities. Since 2018 Praxis has grown and processed Japanese indigo on vacant lots in our residential neighborhood. We now have extracted pigment indigo dye kits available for sale along with hand-dyed and printed Praxis Fiber Workshop T Shirts.
Instagram | Website

Ethical Sourcing

Harkin
Custom designed leather goods slowly made in Cleveland, crafted in traceable vegetable tanned leather. The story of the animal to the material to the end product only travels through a few hands across a few states while maintaining low waste and a high end product.
Instagram | Website

…and we’re finalizing more vendors— stay tuned!

INFO TABLES

INFO TABLE: “biocycled” waste textiles
redhouse studio is at the Rust Belt Fibershed Symposium to share how regenerative, fiber-based material systems can connect soil, water, buildings, and culture into a more circular regional economy. They’ll be sharing their research findings on a process where discarded clothes are ground to a pulp, processed, filtered, and “biocycled” to allow fungi to breakdown and remediate harmful chemicals, and reconstitute the materials into new value added healthy materials.

redhouse studio is an architecture and research practice working at the intersection of design, material innovation, and environmental justice, with a focus on living material systems that remediate waste, store carbon, and tell place-based stories. Our work explores how discarded materials—textiles, demolition debris, agricultural byproducts—can be biologically transformed into new building materials and public works that support healthier ecosystems and communities.

redhouse: LinkedIn | Website | Email | Instagram

research funded by Goodwill of Ohio Valley and Goodwill Industries of Greater Cleveland & East Central Ohio. See sponsorship page.

Please join us for this afternoon of amazing connections, learning, shopping, swapping, and so much more! To join for early access from 1-2pm, please be sure to register below. Then: invite your friends, family, and colleagues to join you afterwards for the free portion from 2-4!

please know that none of this would happen without our sponsors. See our sponsor page for more info!