Eco-friendly slow fashion
From the Subcultures and Countercultures of the Polish-Canadian Diaspora
Articles
2025 Markets
- Jan 25 - Local Goods at The Brentwood Lifestyle Centre 4039 Brentwood Rd NW Calgary Alberta
- Feb 22 - Local Goods at The Brentwood Lifestyle Centre 4039 Brentwood Rd NW Calgary Alberta
- March 18 - Empowered Women Market Edmonton City Centre Towers
- March 22 - Local Goods at The Brentwood Lifestyle Centre 4039 Brentwood Rd NW Calgary Alberta
- March 28 - Hand Made Market Marda Loop Communities Association 3131 16 Street SW Calgary
- April 2 - YYC World Autism Awareness Day market Stampede Youth Campus Calgary
- April 25 - Hand Made Market Marda Loop Communities Association 3131 16 Street SW Calgary
- April 26 - Change Makers Collective Market Scarboro community association 1727 14 Ave SW Calgary Alberta
- May 9 -
- May 25 - Zine Fest CommunityWise Resource Centre
- May 31 - cSpace Farmers Market 1721 29 Ave SW Calgary
- June 13-15 - Wetaskiwin Multicultural Heritage festival Jubilee park 50 Ave Wetaskiwin Alberta
- July 9 - Matiowski Market Kenora Ontario (tentative)
- August 2 - Art on the Boulevard Mariner's Rd Erieau Ontario (waitlisted)
- August 13 - Matiowski Market Kenora Ontario (tentative)
- August 30 - cSpace Farmers Market 1721 29 Ave SW Calgary
- September 6 - cSpace Farmers Market 1721 29 Ave SW Calgary
- September 20 - Change Makers Collective Market (tentative)
- September 27 - cSpace Farmers Market 1721 29 Ave SW Calgary
- Oct - Banff Pride
- October 24 - Hand Made Market Marda Loop Communities Association 3131 16 Street SW Calgary
- Oct 25 - Change Makers Collective Market (tentative)
- November 7-8 - Okotoks Christmas Market
- Nov 29 - Change Makers Collective Market (tentative)
Locally sourced
At Dye Me Bougie we strive to reduce our carbon footprint and avoid tariffs by keeping a close to local supply chain and sourcing most of our materials from within Canada. This helps keep our prices reasonable without those cost savings being at the expense of the environment.
Sourcing materials from within Canada also ensures the workers along the entire supply chain are not exploited for their labour. We support unions, worker's rights and worker's right to strike. We also believe in supporting other Canadian based businesses.
Why natural fibers?
1. It's biodegradable. The number one way that microplastics get into our waterways is by washing synthetic clothing. Less than a century ago, we unleashed this beast on the world by inventing synthetic material and using it for nearly everything in existence without fully understanding the potential harm. So we don't even have any studies yet showing the long term effects of releasing tiny plastic particles into the environment. One thing we do know is that microplastics have been found in places you'd least expect; the deepest ocean trenches, Antarctic snow, blood, breast milk and in the lungs of wild animals with little to no human contact.
2. A 2014 study showed that the types of bacteria responsible for body odor were more abundant on synthetic fibers than natural fiber clothing after an intense workout. The high temperatures or direct sunlight needed to kill these bacteria cause synthetic fiber clothing to deteriorate faster, further contributing to microplastics in our waterways.
3. A 2021 study found that body odor causing bacteria thrives in synthetic textiles. Because they are essentially plastic, they can't absorb water or soap and therefore the bacteria doesn't wash off completely. Furthermore, the natural oils on our skin can cause synthetic fibers to breakdown and bond, creating a biofilm on the fabric.
Vocational Skill Building
If you've visited us at markets, you might have met my son and sidekick, Dallas. He helps with many aspects of the business both in front and behind the scenes.
He's autistic and struggles with communication, which is a skill he's trying to build through interacting with potential customers and other vendors at markets. He can do some basic cash transactions and will eventually move to online and card transactions too. He also helps and independently makes some of the products we sell.
When you support our business, you're helping an autistic adult learn important job skills.
A History of Polish Trade and Activism in North America
In the early 1600s, Polish people were brought to the first American colony in Jamestown as indentured servants. They were responsible for building the first glass factory in the 'new world' and the glass they produced was the first product exported to Europe from what would eventually become the United States.
The English colonists didn't hold Polish men in high regard and didn't want them making babies with English women. So they agreed to bring Polish women to the new colony because at the time, it was believed that the indentured servants would be more productive if they had some kind of intimate relations with a woman in their downtime. Most of the glass made in these factories was for use in stained glass windows of churches. Sometimes the servants would bring home pieces of colourful glass to their women. The glass was a replacement for precious gemstones for these indentured servants and the women who accompanied them.
As you can imagine, Polish women weren't accepted by the wives of the English colonists and ended up building friendships with Indigenous women. Polish women were tasked with finding food sources for their men, but being new to the area, had to learn from Indigenous women what plants, animals and fungus could be eaten, what was medicine and so on. In exchange for this knowledge, they traded glass beads, floral scarves and colorful ribbons.
Traditionally, Indigenous beads were made of long tubular shaped items like hollow bone, dentalium shells and porcupine quills and the technique of flat-stitching beads to a fabric backing is something Polish women learned from Indigenous women.
. . .
While women were never allowed to vote at all back then, in 1619, the first vote was cast in the new colony and Polish men were excluded. Part of indentured servitude is that once your service is completed, you're supposed to be free and equal to other citizens. Equality means the right to vote. So they put down their tools and refused to work until they were granted fair and equal rights. The Jamestown Polish Workers Strike became known as the first workers strike in north american history. Because the colony was dependent on funding from glass exports, a strike would have been detrimental.
In July of 1619, the English colonists granted the right to vote to Polish indentured servants who had completed their servitude. One of the things they voted for was the right to return to Poland on one of the export ships. Upon return, they often brought with them some of the plants and seeds they learned about from Indigenous people. That's how we ended up with ingredients like potato or blueberry filling in pierogi.
There's a centuries old and very rich history of trade between Polish and Indigenous women and it's one of the reason's you'll see me supporting various Indigenous-led initiatives through my business. I also understand that the history is skewed because of colonial gender roles brought here by europeans. So I don't limit that solidarity to just Indigenous women. Men, 2spirit and other non-colonial gender roles are all cool in my books.
Bare Necessities
In June of 2022, I approached the mayor with an idea for a fundraiser for an outreach group I was volunteering with. The idea was to use the city's decorative manhole covers as prints for T-shirts. The profits of the sales could buy supplies for the outreach group to hand out to people living rough on the streets of Calgary. I had to get permission from the individual artists before I could have the manhole covers released to make the shirts.
The shirts are grey to represent the concrete streets and sidewalks. The 3 designs are for the city's drinking water (pictured), wastewater and storm water systems.
The drinking water design by Mary Haasdyk pictures water cascading off a glacier and being collected in a receptacle made of community homes. We chose this design to represent the need for access to clean drinking water.
The wastewater design by Jeff Kulak pictures microbes being removed from water flowing through a filter. We chose this design to highlight the need for access to a toilet that many people living rough do not have.
The storm water design by Andrea Williamson pictures a poplar branch in the water where the bow river meets the elbow river. We chose this design to reflect the need for access to a shower. Many people living rough without access to a shower have to resort to bathing in the river but only when the water is warm enough.
The profits of the shirt sales cover the cost of bottled water, clean socks and underwear and basic hygiene items to people living rough on the streets of Calgary.
While I was originally doing this fundraiser through an organization called Nekem: to change something, the fundraiser was briefly put on hold after the sudden passing of the founder, Vee Duncan. While the organization as a whole still exists, they decided to close their Calgary chapter. I continue to do outreach in the downtown area on my own, independently of the organization.
In traditional Polish culture, we're supposed to hand out food on All Souls Day. It was once believed that on this night, spirits of everyone who passed during the last year would start trying to find their way home. Sometimes these spirits would get lost or confused and try to take up space in the body of a living person. We would hand out food to the hungry because if people were filled with food, they wouldn't have room for any lost wandering spirits. So it helped the spirits find their way home. I still try to practice this on or around All Souls Day every year.
The profits from the sale of the manhole shirts ensure that I can include bottled water, clean socks and underwear, and basic hygiene items with the food I hand out. The hygiene items include soap, shampoo, conditioner, wet wipes, tooth brushes, toothpaste, combs, travel sized deodorant and menstrual products.
Just the bare necessities.
This is to honor Vee's vision of providing some basic needs to people who didn't make it to a shelter before check-in.
All manhole shirts are 100% cotton, biodegradable, no petroleum based synthetic fibers, no polymer based heat transfers. 100% compost safe. These were decisions approved by Vee before he passed and I have another article explaining all the reasons natural fabric is better.
2024 Markets
- June 29th, 2024 - Peace and Unity Festival (take 1), 505 Wolf Willow Road NW Edmonton (Westridge Wolf Willow Community Centre)
- August 25th, 2024 - The Big Downtown Garage Sale, 144 6 Ave SE Calgary (Historic Firehall)
- August 31st, 2024 - Peace and Unity Festival (take 2), 4209 111 Ave NW Edmonton
- October 12, 2024 - Banff Pride Market, 103 Caribou Street (historic mason hall)
- November 2nd,2024 - Calgary Rock and Lapidary Club Christmas Artisan Fair, 5600 Centre Street North (Thorncliffe Community Hall)
- November 15, 2024 - Calgary Women's Centre Holiday Market, 39 4 Street North East
- December 3rd, 2024 - International Day of Persons with Disabilities market, 2500 University Drive NW Calgary at MacEwan Hall
- December 16th, 2024 - Justice 4 Reel Festival, CKUA 9804 Jasper Avenue Edmonton
How to contact me
Questions or Comments
Please email dyemebougie@gmail.com for questions, comments and custom orders
