Mary Jeanne Packer and Gail Parrinello were both approaching traditional retirement age when they came up with the concept of an organization that supports and encourages the textile traditions of New York State’s Hudson Valley region and educates people about the importance of traceability and sustainability. “My friends were retiring and spending their days on the golf course and the pickle ball court,” Mary Jeanne recently shared with me. “They wanted me to join them, but I knew that kind of life wasn’t for me.”
The owner of Battenkill Fibers, a midsized carding and spinning mill located in Greenwich, New York, Mary Jeanne Packer has a degree in engineering from MIT, and energy and passion to spare. Her friend and customer of the mill Gail Parrinello, the owner of Cornwall Yarns, was on the same page. “At this point in our lives, when a lot of the distractions of our younger years had lessened, we both wanted to be doing something that would both honor our region’s textile roots and create community,” she says. “We’re both inspired by the role of elders in Native tribes—they are respected and know the importance of passing on their knowledge.” The two women also share a concern about environmental and community impacts of the current fast-fashion trend of quickly discarded garments and home goods that are manufactured a world away. So in 2016, they founded the Hudson Valley Textile Project (HVTP). “Our mantra was, “If not us, who? If not now, when?” (This quote is originally attributed to ancient Jewish scholar Hillel the Elder but has been echoed by passionate doers, including JFK and John Lewis.)
Left to right: Founders Mary Jeanne Packer and Gail Parrinello. Photo courtesy of HVTP.
Putting Their Heads Together
“We have the roadside diners of New York State to thank for the Hudson Valley Textile Project,” Mary Jeanne jokes. The two women would meet regularly at one of the region’s many diners and brainstorm about ways to create a cohesive community that would bring together fiber farmers, fiber processors, designers, and makers. “Through the mill, I know pretty much everybody in the New York fiber scene and beyond. The mill is really at the heart of this effort, and we wanted to broaden the reach.” They were soon joined at their diner meetings by sheep farmer Paula Kucera of White Barn Farm, designer and maker Kathy Fogarty of Midnight Mercantile, founder of New York Textile Lab Laura Sansone, weaver Lilly Marsh, and Jared Nelson of SUNY New Paltz. The group became the founding board of the HVTP.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.” —Margeret Mead
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Hudson Valley: Home to All the Right Stuff
Both Mary Jeanne and Gail agree that in addition to a powerhouse board, many factors make the Hudson Valley uniquely aligned to provide a fertile ground for the HVTP to grow.
The region spans both sides of the Hudson River from Westchester County to the state capital Albany and up to the Adirondak Mountains, the Hudson River’s headwaters. It has been an agricultural area since the days when the Munsee Lenape, the Mohican, the Wappinger, the Schaghticoke, and the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) were growing corn, beans, and squash on tribal lands here. More recently, the Hudson Valley, brimming with orchards and dairy farms, was an early hub of the farm-to-table movement, and the HVTP founders see many parallels between that movement and the growing farm-to-fabric trend—and the importance of traceability in both. Gail shared, “I grew up on a dairy farm and have a master’s degree in nutrition from Cornell, so I had an understanding of food farming before I got onto the fiber world.”
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The lush region is well-suited to growing crops and raising fiber animals. “We are privileged in many ways,” Mary Jeanne says. While it is clear the climate is changing, “Our area hasn’t been ravaged by fires or killing droughts like other parts of the country.”
The Hudson Valley region has the advantage of being just north of fashion capital New York City, home to several universities with fashion and textile programs, including FIT, Parsons, and Pratt. HVTP has initiatives connecting fiber producers with fashion brands and promoting traceability in the garment industry. They work with fashion programs upstate at Marist, SUNY New Paltz, Skidmore, Hardwick, Syracuse, and Cornell. In addition, many New York State colleges and universities have strong agricultural curricula, and HVTP works with ag programs at Cornell, SUNY Morrisville, and SUNY Cobleskill.
Support and Oversight
The group has benefited from a receptive government, long used to supporting the farming industry of the state. The most important piece of advice Mary Jeanne would give to anyone wanting to follow a similar model to theirs is, “Get to know your legislators.” State and local governments, as well as private industry, can be sources for grant money and marketing support.
Through cooperative efforts with state government—both Empire State Development and Department of Agriculture and Markets—there is now a Natural Fibers Textile Development Workgroup that has recommended and supported a number of important new initiatives in the state. This includes the HVTP Northeast Fiber Exchange's efforts to buy and sell wool and the Empire Sheep Producers Association’s Wool Room at the annual State Fair in Syracuse. Also in the works for this year’s fair is a natural-fiber fashion show—the first of its kind. The two-week long State Fair event hosts around a million visitors each year, and Mary Jeanne says, “These efforts will bring awareness of the importance of natural fibers and sustainability to a wider audience than fiber-centric events, such as the New York Sheep and Wool Festival, where we’re happy to preach to the choir.”
Actor, model, and farmer Isabella Rossellini spoke at a recent HVTP summit. She emphasized the dangers on monoculture and shared this nugget: “Knowing where your fiber comes from is the definition of luxury.”
In addition to an active board, the group has recently initiated an Advisory Council. “This is our succession plan,” Mary Jeanne laughs. But it is no joke that an organization needs to have a range of talents and ages represented in order to keep growing. Abby Henderson, the Farm to Market Business Development Specialist for HVTP says, “Knitting, fiber arts, sustainable products, and slow fashion have all been seeing a surge of interest from younger adults. The HVTP community represents all these areas, and its members hold a lot of knowledge that young folks looking to join the industry can learn from.” Advisory Council member Sara Bauer adds, “I’ve witnessed the powerful connections that occur when people in the fiber community visit farms and mills, meeting the folks who produce products they love. It has been a thrill to see what HVTP has accomplished over the years by thinking and acting way beyond small-batch production and harnessing connections at the local, regional, and state level.”
A Model Approach
Mary Jeanne and Gail emphasize that, while their region is unique, other areas can learn from their model. “Ask what your area’s strengths are, what do you have?”, they suggest. “Textile manufacturing, a fiber-arts culture, sheep farmers, a dynamic leader, a community hub?” Remember, HVTP started out as a couple of passionate people meeting in a diner.
Visit Hudson Valley Textile Project to learn more or to join.
Curious about Isabella Rossellini and her livestock farm on Long Island? Read “Isabella Rossellini: Becoming Mama Farmer”.