I wrote this in 2010. It’s as relevant now as it was then, and Jon Upsal’s Garden’s post from yesterday reminded me of this.
Once upon a time, all over the world, there was a thriving textiles industry — or rather, many, defined by geography and the availability of raw materials with which to produce textiles. Thousands upon thousands of workers, toiling each and every day to produce what little they could due to the lack of fossil fuels to assist in their labors. Guilds sprung up in many areas, both to assist members in receiving a fair price for their goods and also to regulate what, how much, and by what process goods could be produced. This both limited and protected those who belonged; it was a fair trade off and one that worked for many hundreds of years. Then came the industrial revolution and these antiquated ways went on the trash pile of history. Or so it seems.
It should be noted that many of the textiles of the past cannot —…
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