What's in Your Living Room? Rethinking the Textiles Around Us

Here’s a quick exercise: take a moment to look around your living room. Notice the couch cushions, the throw blanket, the rug under your feet. What are they made of?

You might be surprised. A peek at the labels may reveal that what appears to be wool or cotton is actually blended with — or entirely made of — synthetic materials. Polyester. Nylon. Acrylic. These plastic-based fibers are everywhere, woven into the very fabric of our daily lives.

The fashion and home textile industries are some of the most polluting sectors on the planet, contributing to massive water contamination, greenhouse gas emissions, and mountains of waste. Globally, 85% of textiles end up in landfills — that’s over 11 million tons each year. And while they sit in those landfills, or get washed and worn in our homes, synthetic fabrics continue to shed microplastics. Around 500,000 tons of these fibers make their way into our oceans annually, where they enter the food chain and disrupt ecosystems. They’re also floating through the air we breathe.

These are not just abstract statistics. They’re part of the climate crisis — the defining challenge of our time. And they force us to ask big questions:
What are we surrounding ourselves with? What are we throwing away? And what could we be doing differently?

At Bellwether, these questions guide our work. We believe that if we want a different future, we need a different fabric. That’s why we’re committed to using 100% natural, regionally sourced wool — no synthetics, no shortcuts. Our textiles are made to last, to be compostable at the end of their life, and to support a regenerative supply chain from farm to finish.

We invite you to follow along as we explore what sustainable textiles can look like — and how small choices at home can ripple outward toward a healthier planet.