What's softer than cashmere and warmer than down? Kuujjuaq students spin muskox qiviut into yarn

There's a secret hiding under the thick, coarse pelt of muskox: a wool that's light, soft and warm, and which a group of people in Kuujjuaq, Que., recently learned to turn into yarn.

It all starts with a good brushing — no easy feat when you're talking about a large animal that lived out its days in the wild. But with time, patience and some sturdy pet brushes, instructor Rachel Guindon led students through the process of collecting the material known as qiviut and then washing and spinning it to be used for crafts.

"All the ladies that were part of the workshop, they were fantastic — they were motivated, they were laughing all the time, very curious, asking a lot of questions," Guindon said.

"I think they were very happy that they gained new knowledge, new techniques ... I was very impressed by them."

Guindon made the trip from Quebec City to Kuujjuaq for the three-day workshop, which ran from March 21 to 23. Thanks to a donation from a local resident, the workshop participants had a large spring muskox hide to work with.

Tuesday 1 March 2022

Textile waste is a growing problem — and Canada still isn't doing enough to solve it, experts say

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6357584

Textile waste is a growing problem — and Canada still isn't doing enough to solve it, experts say.

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At Paul Long's clothing store Anián, each garment gives new life to used wool.

The fabric is recycled from discarded clothing from landfills and rag houses — warehouses full of second-hand clothing — in southeast Asia and Africa that eventually lands in Vancouver, where Long's team uses it to create new garments.

Long estimates his business kept 136 tonnes of textile waste out of landfills abroad in 2020 — around the weight of a blue whale — and he's hoping to make even larger strides in recycling in the future.

Textile waste, which comes from the manufacture of clothes and their eventual disposal into landfills, is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world.

While there are signs that governments are taking the problem seriously by providing more sustainable disposal options, some people in the recycling and textiles industries say Canada still lacks a lot of the infrastructure to properly re-purpose clothes — and that there is still too much reliance on other countries to break down our garments for us.