Based: Oakland, CA
Description: AVFKW, A Verb For Keeping Warm, has a brick and mortar shop selling fabrics, fibers, books, kits, patterns and workshops for completing spinning, dyeing, felting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and sewing projects.
The products AVFKW carries are largely sourced from farms and manufacturing firms based in the USA. Kristine Vejar, founder of AVFKW, is passionate about preserving textile practices.
In terms of natural dyeing, AVFKW offers workshops, dye studios and a natural dye garden to current and future dyers. The garden is a nine hundred-foot long-row of dye plants. A Verb for Keeping warm is not able to use locally grown dyes to create the entire rainbow of colors.
Kristine created 'Seam Allowance, a monthly group meeting to support making at least 25% of their own wardrobe. When she learned that thousands of pounds of sheep wool was thrown away or sold for almost nothing to China, Kristine was determined to create a line of California wool yarn called Pioneer. Since launching Pioneer in 2015, two other California based wool yarn collections Flock and Range.
As if that wasn't enough, Kristine Vejar authored her first book, The Modern Natural Dyer in 2015.
Social Responsibility: Woman owned, natural textiles, zero-waste
Click here for a guide to vintage shopping
Click here for a guide to womens clothing made in America