Product Certification Requirements
Any and all goods that are listed on the Soil to Soil Market website follow these guidelines:
- All fiber and hides are farmed/harvested within each vendors individual Fibershed affiliations stated location or radius.
- All botanic dye is farmed/harvested within each vendors individual Fibershed affiliations stated location or radius.
- All tallow, essential oils, hydrosols, and supplementary oils/fats used in goat milk, beeswax, balm, candles, lotions, and body care products are farmed/harvested within the designated Fibershed affiliations region.
- No item, nor any of its constituent parts, may be genetically modified or contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
- No item, nor any of its constituent parts, may be a manufactured biosynthetic.
- No item, nor any of its constituent parts, may be superwashed.
- All labor is sourced within the U.S.
Exceptions to Item Requirements
Soil to Soil Market is based in Northern California and therefore follows the Northern California Fibershed product certification requirements. Unless stated otherwise, Fibershed Market requires all vendors, regardless of Fibershed affiliation or region to follow these requirements and guidelines. We realize that exceptions may vary from region to region and will work with each individual Fibershed on exceptions on a case by case basis.
- Notions: Sewing thread and most notions are not yet manufactured in some regions, so Fibershed verifies goods from artisans whose thread and notions are sourced from outside their region. We also have a few stipulations that apply specifically to notions: 1. Items that are sewn with a poly cotton (polyester and cotton blend), or poly (100% polyester) thread, must be noted on the product label or in the product description (if being sold online), as not fully compostable. Items bearing the Fibershed Certified logo must contain 5% or less of nylon, poly cotton, or poly thread by weight.
- Cotton: Fibershed has made an allowance for regionally blended (i.e. California and Texas, or California and New Mexico) Certified Organic cotton yarns and textiles until more local, organic cotton options can be generated.
- Domestic Hemp: There are currently a limited number of states in the United States growing textile grade hemp. At present, the Fibershed Certified product logo and label may include farm level traceable, domestically grown and degummed hemp to be blended into yarns that contain our region’s own wool, alpaca, mohair, or cashmere.
- Coverage for coarse wool bedding goods: Organic cotton fabric, grown and manufactured in the United States and outside our fibershed, is allowed to use as a surface container for wool mattress toppers, pillowcases, and duvets.
- Tools, books and patterns: While not farmed or literally sourced from materials within our region, we make an exception for creative ideas and items made or otherwise created (designed, conceived) that support, amplify, or help people use, learn to use, or learn more about practices in our region, and how to incorporate those practices into their lives, goods, and land. Tools, books, and patterns designed by producer members of the Northern California Fibershed may bear the text and/or logo of “Fibershed Certified Producer” to denote the book, tool or pattern was written or made by a Fibershed Producer Program Member.
Compliance
If a vendor labels a Fibershed Certified good that does not comply with one or more of the above requirements, a Market administrator will privately alert the vendor to the problem and ask that they remove the Fibershed tag or logo and deactivate the listing. If non-compliant items are repeatedly or consistently (three times or more) found in online or in-person commerce channels, the vendors page will be suspended from the Soil to Soil Market.
Source: Fibershed Certified Product Guidelines, June 2019 edition
Websource: https://fibershed.org/programs/regional-textile-economies/producer-program/