Good Bye, Leigh Anne

Dear Readers

You may have noticed that we have not posted but about 3 times in the past– well, almost three years.  The sad reason for this falling-down-on-the-job is that my sister – my fellow founder, long-time business partner, and the primary researcher and first draft writer of this blog (started in 2009!), Leigh Anne, has early onset dementia. She can no longer work. 

The absence of blog posts is evidence enough of my (Patty’s, that is.  The two sisters are Leigh Anne and Patty. Leigh is the red head in the photo. I am the other one.) difficulty in accepting this reality.  Leigh Anne was thoroughly passionate about researching and investigating the safety and environmental issues of textile production and use.  Continuing both the company and the blog is the best way to honor her.  I have numerous blogs ready to go – even though, again sadly, most of Leigh’s blogs are still relevant as too little progress has occurred in fabric production. 

As Leigh used to say, fabric gets no respect !

And, boy, should it.

Because fabric production requires gargantuan amounts of energy, chemicals, and water.

Simply through your fabric choices, you can improve climate change, toxicity pollution, and water pollution – and EASILY!  You do not have to park your car and get on a bike. 

Both Leigh and I have/had a tendency to report too many facts in an academic atmosphere. We don’t summarize well.  I’ll be attempting to do that (summarizing) in the near future, so busy people don’t have to read through paragraphs and paragraphs of supporting evidence in order to get to the takeaway.   (But we will direct you to the sources and evidence to support the facts we report). Please stay subscribed and let your friends know!

Leigh Anne and I used to disagree vigorously about many issues.  Our husbands were always amazed about how we fought and fought but retained zero ill will, even in the same day. But one thing we agreed on:  Reveal your black eyes. Be so honest that people trust you. We felt fine about revealing ridiculous mistakes to customers, investors etc., assuming they would know that we would learn from mistakes. Give people the information that we would expect (that is, everything). Do not interpret without supporting evidence. Have and reveal sources.  State the truth or the truth in process (studies). Minimize opinion. Minimize marketing hype. Don’t have a strategy other than the truth and facts – above a product of value fit for its intended purpose, of course. Among our first three initial tag lines was “Ask for the data.”   “Indulgent but responsible” and “Organic but Opulent” were the others. (We have only recently gone opulent!  Thank you, John Koval).

We have never spent money on advertising, or even SEO.  Our odd, overly technical blog on relatively obscure issues about completely unsexy fabric has been our only promotional vehicle.  I’m not bragging about this. It is far from optimal (made necessary by a lack of capital).  We will change this soon (money allowing).  We think that we do still have a solid foundation for growth because people trust what we say. (Yes ! We make mistakes!)

Thank you for reading. Thank you for your interest. Onward and upward. There remains WAY too much greenwashing in textiles!  Animals, your family, the planet – you can be a big part in helping to save them through your fabric choices.  Change your choices. (Ask for, insist on, GOTS certified or Oeko-Tex certified as long as the fabric certified by Oeko-Tex is natural fibers).

Life is short.  Hug the ones you love. And say a prayer to whomever you worship for Leigh Anne. She was and is a lovely soul.

Patty