Brand Spotlight: Loom & Ashs Zero-Waste Textile Revolution

Since its founding in 2018, Loom & Ash has quietly reimagined how small textile studios design and produce domestic textiles. What began as a weekend experiment in modular weaving grew into a vertically integrated approach to pattern-making, dyeing, and community-centered production.

Founding story

Founders Naomi Lin and Arturo Perez started with a simple problem: too much waste. Traditional looms create significant offcuts and pattern mismatches, and many small producers send these remnants to landfill. Loom & Ash took a different tack. They redesigned pattern geometry so that less warp yarn is required and built weave patterns that nest like puzzle pieces.

What zero-waste means practically

Zero-waste is often an aspirational term. For Loom & Ash it is operational. They track yard-to-product ratios, use a closed-loop dyeing system that recovers over 70% of process water, and partner with local farmers for natural indigo and madder crops. Their factory floor has a dedicated mending station and a repair apprenticeship that hires local seamstresses.

The product range

Their core offerings are throws, table linens, and a small line of soft furnishings. Each piece contains an embedded care tag with dye origin, expected fabric composition, and a QR code that links to a short film of the making process.

Worker well-being and transparency

Unlike many craft brands, Loom & Ash publishes worker pay bands and benefits. They pay above living wage locally, offer paid leave, and provide skills training for seasonal workers. Transparency reports are updated biannually and include energy use, dye effluent capture, and materials sourcing maps.

"Designing for repair and reuse is not slower design; it is smarter design."

— Naomi Lin, Co-founder, Loom & Ash

Challenges and trade-offs

No studio is perfect. Loom & Ash faces scalability constraints, and their specialized looms demand higher upfront capital. They also confront supply chain risk for natural dyes that rely on seasonal harvests. To mitigate these challenges, they maintain a modest reserves program and have diversified into a small reclaimed cotton line that uses post-consumer textile streams.

Community and collaboration

Part of Loom & Ashs approach is local collaboration. They run quarterly open-studio days, invite neighborhood schools for textile workshops, and collaborate with ceramicists and furniture makers to produce coordinated product drops. This networked model creates multiple revenue streams for small makers and fosters cross-disciplinary creativity.

Where to buy

Loom & Ash products are available on Agoras.shop in limited runs. Because many pieces are small-batch, we recommend signing up for restock alerts. They also accept custom orders for interior designers with a lead time of eight to twelve weeks.

Final thoughts

Loom & Ash offers a compelling template for sustainable textile production: integrate design incentives to reduce waste, invest in worker well-being, and communicate process transparency to customers. For consumers, buying from brands like Loom & Ash can transform daily objects into durable, meaningful parts of home life.