A01=Charlotte Linton
aizome
Amamian kimono cloth
Author_Charlotte Linton
Bird conservation
Category=JBSL
Category=JHMC
Category=KNDD
craft
dispossession
dorozome
dyeing
ecology
economic ornithology
environmentalism
eq_bestseller
eq_business-finance-law
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
extraction
fashion
food security
Forestry
indigo
Japan
Kanai Kougei
Mottainai
mud-dyeing
Nihonjinron
Oshima tsumugi
sharinbai
sustainability
textiles
totemism
tradition
World Natural Heritage
Product details
- ISBN 9781478028987
- Weight: 572g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 28 Oct 2025
- Publisher: Duke University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
In Dyeing with the Earth, Charlotte Linton explores the intersection of small-scale traditional craft production with contemporary sustainability practices. Focusing on natural textile dyeing on the southern Japanese island of Amami Ōshima, Linton details the complex relationship between preservation practices, resource extraction, and land access in the production of Oshima tsumugi kimono cloth, which uses the indigenous technique of dorozome (or mud-dyeing). As global interest in sustainable fashion grows, textile manufacturers on Amami have expanded from kimono production to dyeing garments and textiles for high-profile designers. While traditional craft may appear at odds with the large-scale global textile industry, Linton reveals how Amamian and global producers face similar social, economic, and environmental pressures. Ethical production in fashion, Linton contends, should focus on understanding local everyday practices that sustain direct relationships between people, place, and environment rather than rely on short-term solutions via new processes or materials. Weaving together ethnography, photography, and illustration, Linton underscores the continued relevance of traditional craft and material cultures amid ongoing climate change and biodiversity loss.
Charlotte Linton is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Social Anthropology at All Souls College, University of Oxford.
