We are a non-profit organization whose mission is create connections among people and planet, and we do so through textiles!

Over 60% of our clothing is made fossil-fuel derived plastic. Over 98% of our clothing is produced overseas. The Rust Belt Linen Project provides an entrypoint for people to become involved in a community that is asking questions about where our clothes come from, how our textiles impact our people and planet, and what we can do about it!

We've been running this particular project: The Rust Belt Linen Project- successfully now for 5 years! This is a community grow program that supports anyone who already has access to any little garden plot with 1)the seeds and 2) the instructions for how to grow flax (for linen). This project creates conversation about where our clothes come from- but even more importantly, embedded within the months-long project, there is a community built among those who would like to grow flax as well as a learning impact around how to grow and harvest something like flax and how to even make your own clothing from it!

This past year, we 33 had people from all over our fibershed (within 250 miles of Cleveland) growing flax at all different scales! 12 of those growers were in Cuyahoga County.

For the past few years, we have been operating without a budget, and the project has been incredibly successful! We've garnered attention from The New Yorker, Ideastream, NPR, with Modern Farmer and The New York Times all currently have stories about the project that have been pitched.

Other Fibershed affiliate groups in other parts of America have utilized this project in their own communities from our open source documentation of how to run this project.