Fibers Fund end of year updates
As we head into the last weeks of 2023, the Fibers Fund is thrilled to announce several major milestones in our work!
In late November, we completed our first investor close. This pioneering support will allow us to launch our loan program in 2024 and continue to build momentum for our fund’s growth. We’re grateful to all the funder and investor partners who have helped us reach this stage!
We have also made four additional business technical assistance grants. With these awards, the Fibers Fund has distributed 10 grants totaling $215,000.
dièdiè textile farm & studio became the fourth member of the inaugural Black Fiber Cohort in September. Founded and run by adé oni, dièdiè is a locally-scaled textile farm and raw textile material production space that provides low-carbon, raw, processed, and value-added cellulose-fiber and natural dye materials and educational experiences to the Piedmont NC bioregion and beyond.
Winona’s Hemp / Anishinaabe Agriculture Institute (AAI), led by renown Anishinaabe activist Winona LaDuke, has a vision of building a bioregional hemp economy rooted in Indigenous values and centered around the utilization of hemp for textile applications. Their project will continue the development of their vertically-integrated, community wealth-building enterprise model for fiber hemp production and processing on the White Earth Reservation.
Seed2Shirt is the first Black woman-owned vertically integrated apparel manufacturing and print-on-demand company in the US. Founded and led by Tameka Peoples, Seed2Shirt works to reclaim African-Indigenous people's historical impact and relationship with cotton-to-textile systems through its products, services, and programs.
Pergamena Parchment and Leathers is a family-owned boutique tannery located in New York’s Hudson Valley and specializing in vegetable-tanned leather and parchment products. With over 500 years of family history, Pergamena’s mission includes keeping traceable, specialized leather manufacturing from being outsourced to overseas producers and providing processing capacity and added value for local cattle and sheep ranchers.
We are wrapping up our exciting year as part of the 2023 Transformative 25, a list of funds that are “transforming finance for people and the planet.” Our selection for T25 is a great honor, and we are continually inspired by the work of other T25 funds. Our T25 blog post has just been released – we hope you’ll enjoy reading our reflections. We look forward to remaining part of the T25 network in years to come!
These updates build on progress that we’ve shared throughout this year, including:
Holding our launch event in April with over 200 attendees;
Forming our innovative governance model and Advisory Council to guide our equity-based vision;
Receiving a $1M grant to support our operations and deploy business TA grants;
Announcing our first 5 business TA grants this summer;
Launching the Inaugural Black Fiber Cohort; and
Sharing our work and perspectives at multiple invited speaking events this fall.
With these recent developments, the Fibers Fund is poised to move forward with our integrated capital strategy in 2024. Please be in touch to learn more!