Workshop · Thread the Future: Weaving Tradition into Tomorrow’s Fashion

Farm to Closet

C6 Sistema

Come potremmo chiudere i cicli dei materiali tessili a scala regionale?

Aggiornato il 06/06/2026

The problem

Suppose you want to start your own natural fibre activewear brand in Greece. You need to find the raw material. But... You can't find it in Greece. It takes a while until you understand that sampling and spinning and local raw material production are practically non existant in Greece. So you start imagining a world where it is possible. You invest time in finding small actors locally who are willing to help a small business idea turn into something scalable and tangible. The first step of the way is a boutique you find in Ampelokipoi, when you walk in you feel like you're in one of those boutiques from the early two thousands, slightly more expensive and family run, providing qualitative garments which will last decades. You then realise they cut-make-trim all their garments in the back of the boutique. You feel inspired and start believing it is still possible. Local production, at an affordable price. You want to collaborate but they do not have sufficient resources to support your sampling process, so you need to find the right supplier and samplers. As for the raw material... the Greek wool start sparking your interest. What about cotton, linen, hemp, would it all have to come from across the world? What are the alternatives?

Your process

We tried to find a system to close the loop at a regional scale, but we conclude this is not possible due to a lack or nonexistence of local raw materials, sampling (spinning) infrastructure to create the yarn - especially for small-scale actors who aim to commercialise innovative ideas in the fashion industry. So we came up with a scenario where all these actors come together in 1 big space (farm to closet) in an old factory in order to cover the supply chain on a small scale. Our principles are: natural fibre and handmade. The factory would provide, design, cut-make-trim workshops, spinning/weaving/knitting infrastructure.

vanlangendonck.giulia · 03/06/2026

Insights

We discovered that with adequate funding for proper infrastructure and motivated participants, the idea itself doesn't sound so out of reach anymore.

Outcome

We tried to find a system to close the loop at a regional scale, but we conclude this is not possible due to a lack or nonexistence of local raw materials, sampling (spinning) infrastructure to create the yarn - especially for small-scale actors who aim to commercialise innovative ideas in the fashion industry. So we came up with a scenario where all these actors come together in 1 big space (farm to closet) in an old factory in order to cover the supply chain on a small scale. Our principles are: natural fibre and handmade. The factory would provide, design, cut-make-trim workshops, spinning/weaving/knitting infrastructure.