Page 34 - Allison's Magazine ~ Issue #101

WHEN YOU WRAP YOURSELF IN A WARM
blanket, slip into a sweater, or tie a scarf
around your neck, you might not think
about how it was made. But as the idea
of sustainability gains momentum and
more people become interested in where
their clothes come from, places like the
Echoview Fiber Mill in Weaverville,
North Carolina, are excited to shed light
on the production process—giving new
perspective into how wool garments are
made through community engagement
and transparency.

MESSAGES THE HEART OF HOMEGROWN
Echoview is part of a long-standing
FROM THE MILL history of wool production in western
North Carolina. Its location, just fifteen
minutes outside of Asheville, makes
written by alexa bricker it the perfect home base for bringing
photography by nicole mcconville
textiles into the twenty-first century. It
also allows the company’s founder, Julie
Jensen, and her team the opportunity to
weave the area’s traditions and history
into everything Echoview does.

Jensen fell in love with Weaverville’s
natural beauty and sense of tradition
more than a decade ago and decided
to open Echoview Farm in 2005. The
farm originally served as a place for
Jensen to raise traditional fiber animals
like alpacas and to cultivate regional
crops. Eventually, she decided to open
a mill that could support her own
fiber production as well as the needs of
community farmers and craftspeople.

“Echoview began as a place for farmers
to come and bring their wool to be
processed,” says Yoko Morris, a textile
artist at Echoview. “North Carolina
used to be hugely important for textile
manufacturing. When Julie started
Echoview, the tradition was still here,
but there was something missing. We
still buy wool from local farmers, but
instead of only processing it and giving

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