- Sara K Arnold
- May 3
- 13 min read
Updated: May 9
Community Spotlight
What’s Nourishing Dorset’s Hyperlocal Fashion Ecosystem?
As we approach the third Defashion Dorset, OC.M gives a snapshot of Dorset’s local clothing culture
by Sara Arnold
Photos by Immo Klink
In 2020, concerned for their safety as Covid spread like wildfire across the globe, my parents made a hasty decision to relocate to Dorset from Indonesia. They arrived amid an eerie quiet, touching down at Gatwick airport just before it closed its doors and the first lockdown went into full force. It was an unwelcoming time. After almost 40 years in Indonesia, I wondered how they’d settle into the rolling hills of Dorset.
The view from the town of Shaftesbury where my parents now live.
Once things began to open up, they got involved in the community. My mother volunteered in a local charity shop, getting up and close with Dorset’s fashion waste problem. She then met Jenny Morisetti who welcomed her with open arms as a volunteer and collaborator at Hawkers Re-Creatives, a sustainable fashion hub and makerspace on her farm, where the community can swap, rent, mend, upcycle clothes, learn and connect. Jenny is an eco-pioneer and polymath, her experience ranging from retrofitting, interior design, sewing, farming and restoring hedgerows. She’s also a founding member of Dorset Climate Action Network, Chair of Dorset COP 2025 and Chairman of Sustainable Dorset.
Jenny became involved in Fashion Act Now, an activist community I co-founded and from which the term defashion was coined. Defashioning is a paradigm shift in fashion culture, from an extractive and exploitative industry to a pluriverse of hyperlocal and regenerative systems. Subsequently, Jenny now hosts Defashion Dorset, a two day event that brings together those involved in the local clothing ecosystem, from fibre farmers to second-hand resellers to garment makers. Its third edition takes place on the 16th and 17th May 2025. This is at the heart of the revival of localised clothing cultures that’s happening in Dorset. Sewing groups are popping up all around and there’s a renewed interest in spinning, weaving, mending and making.
I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know some key weavers in the network. On the Jurassic Coast, near Bridport, is the idyllic Tamarisk Farm. With the land owned by the National Trust, the Pearce family have been stewarding it since 1960. The third generation of Tamarisk farmers, having been born and bred there, are now working the land. Visiting the farm from London, talking to Ellen, the daughter of the founders, I was starkly aware of the contrast of my city-dwelling ways versus Ellen’s connection with the nature around her. She was embedded in the landscape, knowing all the nooks and crannies where wildlife thrived. Both her and her daughter, Leila (farmer and seamstress), wore clothes self-knitted with skill and care using wool from their own sheep.
Ellen, farmer at Tamarisk Farm, wears a shawl and hand-knitted waistcoat, both made of wool from their own flock; her daughter, farmer and seamstress, Leila, wears a jumper knitted from wool from their flock
For these farmers, ecology and biodiversity are the utmost priority, being organic before organic was a thing. We were lucky to witness the sublime sight of Leila herding her sheep on horseback, with the sea just beyond the field. As a point of discussion, we expressed to Ellen that this landscape and their effortless style, rooted in place and purpose, would be a gold mine of inspiration for big fashion. She disdainfully came back at us expressing her disgust of fashion culture and its toxic, wasteful ways. It's safe to say, those values aren’t welcome on this farm. Music to my ears; there’s no room for appropriation here. I revelled in their uncompromising ways and sureness in their identity.
Leila herding her sheep at Tamarisk Farm
The farm has 4 breeds of sheep: Dorset Down, Hebridean, Shetland and Jacob; providing an earthy palette of 15 shades without any dying. The wool is spun in nearby Cornwall by The Natural Fibre Company using Victorian machinery. They point out that, “Who you buy your food and fibre from is one of the strongest voices anyone has for how our natural world is looked after.” They use Conservation Grazing so their sheep are helping biodiversity thrive. If you want to see this for yourself, you can meander along their numerous public footpaths or attend one of their hosted walks and visits to the farm.
Tamarisk Farm is by no means alone in its endeavours. Dorset is home to a network of small-scale shepherds. Rachel Hall has been regenerating Gutchpool Farm since 2015, after its topsoil was lost as a result of chemical farming. The sheep have been a vital part of that process. She now works alongside Alex James, a local shepherd and sheep breeder. Rachel has been able to apply her background in design and knitwear; under the name The Wool Studio, she’s collaborating with local spinners and dyers to produce dyed wool, patterns and finished garments.
Children at Gutchpool Farm; Knitwear from The Wool Studio; Rachel with her flock of sheep
The local fashion ecosystem is in its infancy but developments are promising. Wessex Community Assets have been working with West Dorset Farmers, trialling how to integrate hemp and flax into agricultural rotations and demonstrating their carbon-capturing potential. And Rampisham Hill Mill is a Dorset mill owned by husband and wife, Ruth and David, processing sheep wool, fleeces and fibres in very small quantities, using renewable technologies. But more is needed. Rachel says, “We have several good spinning mills in the South West but we need more weaving and knitwear facilities and more research, innovation and growing in the natural dye plant sector. To be able to have my sheeps' fleeces spun, naturally dyed, woven and knitted in the region would be my goal.”
Gutchpool Farm is a member of South-West England Fibreshed. For Rachel, this has been a vital resource; "it is a great community and I now have a network of others within the sector, from fellow fibre producers to processors, dyers and designers. It is this connection that can make the changes that are needed and bring slow fashion to people's consciousness.”
Local clothing culture also requires a local vernacular, and considering indigenous cultures in England have been almost totally eroded by industrialisation, we have to dig to reconnect with ancestral knowledge and we have to be innovative and creative in reviving a collective sense of identity, dictated by place and community rather than the whims of big fashion. This will be a long process, emerging as it will.
Kat at and Joss at School House Farm, both wearing BlueBarn.Life
But regarding this, special recognition must be given to BlueBarn.Life. We visited Kat Bazeley, Sarah and Joss at School House Farm where they work together creating earth friendly garments inspired by traditional workwear and historical costume. Their model is simple: they upcycle old materials they find from diverse sources and mix this with beautiful Irish linen; they make together convivially on the farm (meet the makers here) crafting to the highest quality. You buy their ready-made garments made in small batches or they can create bespoke. Here are the beginnings of a unique style that belongs in the landscape of Dorset, specifically where BlueBarn.Life is located – an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (National Landscapes).
Sarah, Joss and Kat at School House Farm wearing BlueBarn.Life; Kat at home with her dog; Joss, Sarah and Kat in the studio; Hand-knitted jumpers
These landscapes certainly inspire a wish to preserve. I wonder how Dorset has become a county with such richness in sustainability initiatives. Was it just a confirmation bias or is sustainability taking hold in Dorset more so than other areas of the country? I ask Jenny what she thinks: “growing up in Dorset certainly made me aware of Nature — that it was all around me; that we had the freedom to explore. I think if you respect Nature and want to care for it, that helps you towards a more sustainable lifestyle.” Jenny believes that rural Dorset is indeed particularly sustainable. “I think people feel a real affinity to the natural landscape around them. People fight hard to protect the landscape and the unique features of the countryside in Dorset.” She points out that the town of Poole is the second biggest natural harbour in the world. Whilst it's a built up area, it remains a place of special interest to RSPB. Dorset has bred environmentalists: Jane Goodall calls Bournemouth her home. People are deeply connected to the land and it attracts newcomers who are looking for a way of life in tune with nature.
Pre-industrial revolution, Dorset was almost completely agricultural. Dorset is home to ancient mills; there has been a watermill at Sturminster Newton for over a thousand years. It also has a unique history of producing textiles: notably, rope from hemp and Dorset buttons; and swanskin, a twill weave flannel cloth made in Dorset from wool, flax and possibly nettles that was traded with fishermen in Newfoundland.
Whilst Dorset is making waves in terms of its local clothing culture, there’s still a long way to go to cut off the dependencies on big fashion. Jenny points out, “the key missing ingredients to having a more sustainable fashion system in Dorset is education and the need for resources at a basic level.” She finds many households today lack a needle and thread. She suggests providing basic tools and skills through school clubs.
Wool by Tamarisk Farm
Jenny’s vision is to “involve utilising more of the wool that is produced locally, not just from sheep but from the many alpacas kept in the county and the few angora goats already producing fibre.” She feels it's pertinent to stop fleeces being wasted. She’d love to see school children taught how to knit their own school jumpers from local wool. However, she admits it will be a long time until local fibres are a staple with development of bast fibres still in their infancy. More needs to be done to support and represent local farmers.
When it comes to visioning and nurturing bioregional practices from the ground up, This Living Place is one of the key movers and shakers. They help local communities identify their needs and give them the agency to rebuild the social and ecological fabric of their localities. Laura Tyley is one of the team; a place-based designer and systems thinker. She dreams of “an economy where small-scale enterprises thrive without the pressure to endlessly scale. Where wealth circulates within a place rather than being extracted by corporations. A local economy where when you buy a book, or bread, or a jumper, the money stays and strengthens your community. That money then generates more opportunities for the community - it circulates.” She dreams of “a place where people are fairly remunerated for looking after community and land. Where social enterprises steward ecology and community whilst engaging economically. Where biocultural diversity — the connection between thriving biodiversity and thriving local cultures — is restored.”
With all these initiatives going on, it's easy to look at what’s happening in Dorset with rose-tinted eyes. Sustainability groups can be echo chambers of people with similar demographics. With Dorset’s reputation being dominated by its areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (National Landscapes), we can gloss over the widening wealth disparities; according to Dorset Council, eleven areas of Dorset fall in the 20% most deprived in the country and 66 areas are in the 20% most deprived for access to housing and services.
"Monocultural movements built by people with similar life experiences and upbringings are not resilient. They can’t build the regenerative, just futures we need."
This bears the question, in the face of climate change, how can a move to a resilient and sustainable economy be for everyone, reducing inequality and improving wellbeing across the board. Laura quite rightly points out, “if efforts to renew ecological and social health don’t actively tackle those disparities, it risks becoming exclusive, brittle, and ultimately ineffective. Monocultural movements built by people with similar life experiences and upbringings are not resilient. They can’t build the regenerative, just futures we need.”
Leila herding her sheep at Tamarisk Farm
She also draws attention to volunteering being commonplace within sustainability initiatives: “The current model — reliant on unpaid, invisible labour — makes change-making accidentally, but powerfully, exclusive. But tackling structural resourcing is only part of the picture. We also need to radically rethink who is leading, who is shaping, and who is being made welcome in these spaces. Real resilience demands diversity of thought, lived experience, and leadership.” She wants those in this sector to ask “who isn’t here, why aren’t they here, and what needs to change to make true co-creation possible?”
"When young people are disconnected from older generations, we lose skills, relationships, and the capacity to live well in place."
A visible problem in Dorset is its ageing population. According to Dorset Council, 54% of people in Dorset are over the age of 65, compared to the average in England and Wales of 30%. The number of those aged over 80 is expected to grow by 38% over the next decade, continuing on its steep trajectory. Older people are moving to Dorset and young people tend to leave for university and work. Laura points out this is “a direct threat to the resilience of our landscapes, our communities, and our ecosystems.” Young people are becoming more disconnected from older generations and intergenerational relationships are crucial: “without them, the knowledge of a place doesn’t flow — it gets dammed up and eventually disappears. We cannot steward what we do not know. We cannot repair what we have not learned to tend. At This Living Place, we often say that places are living knowledge networks. And when generations are siloed from one another, those networks break down. We see it clearly in systems like food and textiles: when young people are disconnected from older generations, we lose skills, relationships, and the capacity to live well in place.”
Talks and demonstrations at Defashion Dorset 2024
Considering all of this, what ideas could be implemented? Laura suggests the following: a regular repair café and a farmers’ market in every village; village halls alive with co-working, childcare, and community projects; elderly people sharing their knowledge; social enterprises supporting each other, not just surviving in isolation; schools embedded in local food, textiles, and craft systems. She believes we need to be “designing projects and events that centre mixed-age participation from the outset; creating cultural narratives where young people see land stewardship, craft, food growing, and repair not as relics, but as powerful futures.” Thanks to so many pioneers and networks, Dorset is indeed on a path towards this vision.
In Laura’s words, there’s a “future we urgently need to imagine together.”
Fashion Act Now and OurCommon.Market members will be attending Jenny’s Defashion Dorset in May 2025 to witness this process of imagining and co-creating. Laura of This Living Place, Rachel of Gutchpool Farm, Alastair, friend of Tamarisk Farm, Kat from BlueBarn.Life will all be participating, and of course, my parents!
Sign up for Defashion Dorset.
OC.M and Fashion Act Now are hosting a dinner on Friday evening at Defashion Dorset with limited capacity. Book below.
Learn more about the local fashion ecosystem in Dorset and the surrounding areas
General Sustainability Networks
Dorset COP: Dorset's own community led 'conference of the parties'
Dorset Climate Action Network: Community-led action to cut carbon emissions, adapt to our changing climate and restore nature across Dorset
Wessex Community Assets: helping to give communities control over their land, enterprises. Wessex Community Assets have been trialing flax and hemp with local farmers
This Living Place: an experiment in how communities can come together, identify what their place needs, and access the resources to make it happen
Zero Carbon Dorset: a volunteer-led group of individuals progressing the issues, ideas and solutions documented in our Dorset 2030 report
Sustainable Dorset: connecting people and communities, supporting individual well-being, community enterprises and businesses in order to nurture resilience
Clubs, Communities and Networks
South-West England Fibreshed: the local group of a global movement of reviving local, equitable textile and clothing systems based on agroecological farming and soil to soil production
Sustainable Dorset - Textile Hub: a collection of individuals, farmers, designers, companies, groups, not-for-profits, charities and other organisations all commonly working sustainably with textiles in Dorset. Check out their atlas which marks all these initiatives on a map and more
Defashion Dorset: A 2-day event promoting Fibre Growers & Makers and a local clothing culture
Street Stitching Bridport: a group that stitch on the street in shopping areas as a gentle act of disruption
Bridport Hat Festival: a hat festival taking place every September
Everyone Needs Pockets: a network inspiring community action and alternatives to the current growth-based, extractive and unhealthy fashion and textile systems
Somerset Guild of Weavers: Encouraging and promoting the skills of weaving, spinning & dyeing across Somerset. Members meet in Somerset every month
Stour Lace Makers: promoting the craft of lacemaking through exchanging ideas
Farms, Fibres and Fibre Processing
Tamarisk Farm: a family farm above the Chesil Beach on the Jurrasic Coast, among the first farms certified by the Soil Association. They grow wholesome, organic food and produce wool sold from their farm shop
Gutchpool Farm: a farm in the north east of Dorset following a regenerative approach, raising sheep, restoring the landscape and increasing biodiversity. They run a bed and breakfast and have a farm shop selling food, sheepskins, wool throws and knitting wools.
Harvard Farm: an organic farm farming regeneratively using sheep. They sell wool to spinners and crafters and produced their own yarn through the Natural Fibre Company in Cornwall
Rails Farm: a small farm with two Shetland sheep and four alpacas. They have spun and carded wool for sale, locally and sustainably produced from their own livestock.
Apshill Farm: Independent of the farm itself which produces food, Trish has developed sheepskin and woollen products made from the Apshill and Mandeville flocks
Alpha Alpacas: a farm the herd of 70 alpacas
Bridport Community Flax Project: a community group growing a meter squared of flax in their gardens
Marina Skua: Local hand-dyed yarn and knitting patterns.
Rampisham Hill Mill: spinning mill specialising in the processing of sheep wool, fleece & fibre
Makerspaces and Shared Workshops
Hawkers Re-Creatives: A hub for Sustainable Fashion with a drop-in stitching group on Thursdays. Learn how to mend, make a skirt, upcycle a garment or embroider or just enjoy the company of like minded people.
Makers, Textile Artists and Artisans
BlueBarn.Life: Hand-made clothing for men and women crafted in Dorset
Thea Batty: clothing repair artist and educator, fostering community connections and inspiring change
Laura Basevi: Fashion designer designing clothing from antique textiles
Tailoresque and Cloth Closet: Clothing alterations specialist, bridal wear seamstress and costume dressmaker
Joanna Jacobs: curator of unique vintage clothing selling at Station Road Antiques
The Wool Studio at Gutchpool Farm: Wool products produced using wool from their own flock of sheep
Kirstie Macleod (The Red Dress): Kirstie of the Red Dress project runs workshops at The Old Stores Studio
Henry's Buttons: based near Shaftesbury in Dorset, the birth-place of the Dorset Button industry in the 1600s, Henry's Buttons aims is to help to keep the tradition alive
Julia Desch: Fibre artist and poet
Education and Knowledge Sharing
Elka Textiles: Weaving and natural dye studio running online and in-person workshops
The Old Stores Studio: a non-profit art studio running creative groups, courses, workshops and events
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