A Shirt Without Enemies

Through the Changing Clothes project, I have befriended the little clothes company, No Enemy, and they have befriended me back. We have similar missions in the world: to cultivate consciousness of clothing - where we buy it, who makes it, and all of the ecological and human concerns along the way. No Enemy was started by Paul Cheatham as a way to spread a message of non-violence and to have the medium of that message be equally peaceful. No Enemy clothes are organic cotton (grown without harmful chemicals), sewn by fair wage labor in Los Angeles, CA, and dyed with low-impact dyes.

For this collaboration, I am making a hand-spun and hand-knit reproduction of a No Enemy t-shirt. I join No Enemy at fairs and festivals and do yarn spinning demonstrations on my spinning wheel. I spin organic cotton and chat with passers-by as they consider purchasing organic cotton clothing. I am making my own shirt without enemies - a shirt of peace - as I befriend people and invite them to experience a process of making that most of us are disconnected from these days. I like to think of myself as an ambassador of sorts - for No Enemy, for the cotton fields, for workers, and for peaceful processes of making.

Would you like to knit your own No Enemy garment?
Download a knitting pattern for the No Enemy logo.