During this coronavirus lockdown, Meriel Chamberlin has had more cold contacts than ever before about her local cotton supply chain Full Circle Fibres which provides beautiful, ethical and traceable fabrics, fibres and yarns. Meriel works directly with cotton growers at St George in south west Queensland, Glenn and Rebecca Rogan, from Australian Super Cotton, and then with local manufacturers for every stage.
As #15 in the ARISING from Disruption conversation series, Meriel chatted with Jane Milburn about adaptation, resourcefulness and self-sufficiency during this time of pandemic.
“This disruption of supply chains and our dependence on them has caused a lot more people to think about buying local and supporting local. Designers, brands and makers think customers are going to want Australian made and we have had practical benefit from the Aussie dollar value and cost of freight (air freight has gone through the roof) which means my offer has become more economically sustainable than before, especially in the category of ethical and sustainable fabrics.’’
“While Australia’s textile industry was much larger 20 years ago, it is quite some time since the nation focused on making the most of single-origin traceability. There is one stage not here yet, which is the spinning to turn the fibre into yarn that is still done in Manchester, UK. Usually Australian fibres are shipped overseas and mixed with others in the global supply chain. I decided that I would like to know where my fibres come from and that others would like that too.’’
One of main opportunities for Meriel during lockdown has been to take a hard look at how we do PPE (personal protective equipment) and the colossal waste in the system. “Along with responding to an increase in interest in my classic products, it is abundantly clear we need to do something radically different, smart and clever, and be even more protective than the PPE available out there. We need equipment that can be reused and to protect people from great shortages, as well as creating local manufacturing opportunities. ”
Listen to the conversation here, or read the notes below.
What Meriel Chamberlin said:
I mostly feel grateful because I’m fortunate to be in a place where we feel really safe, I can continue with work, to have conversations about stuff and where things come from as we collectively face some terrible challenges about how we are dependent on our supply chains and our systems. I’m grateful that personally I’m in a position to look forward and think about how we can learn to work differently and with better results.
Full Circle Fibres provides beautiful, ethical and traceable fabrics, fibres and yarns that are available to designers and makers. “We have done the hard work so they can sleep at night, knowing they are making beautiful things from the inside out. I work directly with cotton growers at St George in south west Queensland, Glenn and Rebecca Rogan, from Australian Super Cotton, and then work with local manufacturers for every stage. This T-shirt is made from cotton grown in St George, fabric knitted and dyed in Victoria, the print is made in Sydney, and garment made here in Brisbane. It has had a bit of a zigzag, but we know that at every stage everyone was paid fairly and works in good clean conditions.”
“While Australia’s textile industry was much larger 20 years ago, it is quite some time since the nation focused on making the most of single-origin traceability. There is one stage not here yet, which is the spinning to turn the fibre into yarn that is still done in Manchester, UK. Usually Australian fibres are shipped overseas and mixed with others in the global supply chain. I decided that I would like to know where my fibres come from and that others would like that too.’’
“During this lockdown, I have had more cold contacts than ever before. This disruption of supply chains and our dependence on them has caused a lot more people to think about buying local and supporting local. From that sense, designers, brands and makers think customers are going to want Australian made. We have had practical benefit from the Aussie dollar value and cost of freight (air freight has gone through the roof) which means my offer has become more economically sustainable than before, especially in the category of ethical and sustainable fabrics.’’
“I am a textile scientist who has been playing around with fabrics, knitting and sewing since she was a kid. I am a tech nerd, who studied textile science and became a professional in supply chain commercialization, quality management and product development in the UK. I worked in manufacturing countries all over the world in supply chains, and now apply my passion and knowledge together. I wanted to be part of a supply chain that I can be proud of and sleep at night – I had to create it because no one else was going to, and here I am with Full Circle Fibres.
“Lockdown has not made a huge difference because I work from home anyway. The difference is my kids are home schooling, my husband is home more, and he has been a superhero in mostly dealing with them.
One of main things for me is the opportunity to take a hard look at how we do PPE (personal protective equipment) and the colossal waste in the system. Along with responding to an increase in interest in my classic products, it is abundantly clear we need to do something radically different, smart and clever, and be even more protective than the PPE available out there. We need equipment that can be reused and to protect people from great shortages, as well as creating local manufacturing opportunities.
“I have continued providing samples and orders of product to customers. The range of markets my products are in include craft and indie sustainable brands and businesses that are online and are a lot more resilient at the moment compared with bricks and mortar retail. Then there is this opportunity to look at smart, anti-viral textiles for protecting people from COVID-19. I have found some amazing Australian chemistry, waiting on official test results now but know it is going to be effective. Just applying commonsense and asking do they really need to be single use, can we make reusable masks and gowns that aren’t just OK but might be even better at protecting people against this virus? All my textile technologist is coming out. It has been a big journey working with experts in those fields to work out if we can reframe how that industry works.
“It is an interesting challenge as our framework for PPE is a safety-first system and in all our pandemic planning and risk assessments, there is little formalized contingency planning for running out of PPE. There are a few protocols around making single-use PPE go further but nobody seems to have asked the question about what did we do before single use and was it effective and could we stand it up again? If we wanted to stand it up again, what are the protocols and planning around that, and could we supply it? We are vulnerable because we don’t make any ourselves. In our risk aversion, we have managed not to identify and formally think about this risk‘’.
Changes: “The pandemic has encouraged people to take a holistic look at what do we actually need, versus what are we just in the habit of buying. The industry I’m in has had a massive impact due to the complete handbrake on a global fashion system that has caused some good in stopping the churn of production but an unfathomable amount of harm to those people (garment workers) dependent on it for their livelihoods. I hope there is some industry reckoning through this, but it will not be complete because as we come out from lockdown people are shopping for the things they bought before. There is definitely an almighty amount of deadstock stuck at various stages of manufacture all over our mass manufacturing geographies of the world. It would be nice to have people thinking about whether they miss going shopping for six weeks, or for another three months, if they are going shopping unnecessarily. Does it make a difference in our lives to not have access to that churn? I like to think that more people might bring that to mind, but I don’t know whether the conversation will continue when people’s lives get back to some sort of normal‘’.
Tips: Do not expect a ‘back to normal’. However we come out of this, we are going to be living with a different way of interacting with each other for quite some time while the infection risk is out there. That means whatever habits we might have depended on for our businesses have changed. Stand in the shoes of those who would have been your customer or client and think what has changed for them now and how can I be part of the solutions they will be looking for? Or help them live to reframed values they might not have had before. Be part of moving forward with more hope than before. Not snap back but a hopeful move forward.
Listen to the Monash Sustainable Development Institute’s recent Planetary Health Dialogue which raised the issue of disposable waste for protective gear (@ 21 min, @42 min and @56 minutes).