Worn

own discretion. After the flax had been retted it was crushed down the line of the stalk until all the coarse outer bark known as tow had been broken; then it was scutched struck and scraped with a wood knife until the tow fell to the ground. The inner fibers of the flax were then drawn through a hackling comb to remove smaller pieces of tow, then carded, and spun, and woven into fabric.
 
Our tour guide at the Sylvanus Brown House was in period costume, with a long skirt, a shawl around her shoulders, and bonnet atop her head. She was a heavyset woman with a thick Rhode Island accent. She showed us the flax break, which looked like a large wooden paper cutter, and demonstrated with a sheaf of dried flax how to crush the bark, bringing down the wooden blade every inch or so. She showed us the iron spikes of the hackling comb and the carding brushes, which were lined with rows and rows of teasel, the spiky head of a flowering plant ideal for drawing multitudinous fibers into parallel rows.
 
Upstairs, our tour guide brought us to see the loom, which presided over an entire room. Finally she showed us the spinning wheel, and the groove in the wooden floor beside it that was made by the woman who was spinning as she walked back and forth, back and forth, a motion required by this particular kind of spinning wheel, dubbed the walking wheel, in order to draw the fiber away from the spindle and lengthen it before giving it a twist. The wheel would have been moved every so often in order to avoid wearing a groove too deep into the floor, the guide said. My mother and I looked at each other, making our eyes wide. She then announced to us, without ceremony or regret, in that frank manner that New Englanders have, that her shift was over.
 
I reflected on the bittersweetness in that phrase, my shift is over. On the one han

Thanhauser emphasizes the experience of workers, usually women, who are enmeshed in lucrative global industries linked to textiles and clothing A knowledgeable and fascinating book that bulges at the seams with finely spun descriptions of the people and places she encounters.
The Economist

Through the prism of five fabrics and five corresponding stories Thanhauser lifts the veil on the ethics, or lack thereof, of the fashion industry.
Departures
 
In this delightful and fascinating book, Thanhauser weaves a social history of clothing.
The Globe and Mail, 26 New Books Coming Out to Brighten Up the Darkest Season

Thanhauser s approach to exposing a system gone so horribly wrong is to synthesise the existing literature, add fresh insights drawn from her own fieldwork, and deliver the findings in a richly evocative narrative powered, but never overwhelmed, by a sense of righteous anger None of this is logistically or morally simple, and the great virtue of Thanhauser s analysis is how alive she is to the difficulty of making these networks legible.
The Guardian
 
Now and then in the life of a book reviewer, a book comes along that makes you glad to be one With admirable concision and formidable scholarship, [Thanhauser] makes you realise the history of clothes is a history of death, sickness, exploitation and destruction of land [and] how we choose the harms we demonise.
The Oldie

"Fashion and designer clothes are not the main subject of this provocative book. Thanhauser, an artist and a teacher at the Pratt Institute in New York, examines the effect of clothes on our environment, politics and even our ethics admirable, meticulously researched [and] makes us pay attention.
The Wall Street Journal

Sofi Thanhauser s record of clothing dives deeper than just the origins of popular materials and textiles. It tells the story of the people and makers whose lives have been directly impacted by the clothing industry, both positively and negatively.
Veranda, The 22 Most-Anticipated Books of the New Year

This riveting behind-the-scenes story of the clothes on our backs is a must-read for clotheshorses everywhere. Remember that scene in The Devil Wears Prada where Miranda Priestly details the industry s worth of labor that went into Andy Sachs s bargain-bin sweater? Add in some climate journalism, a deep dive into modern history, and a crash course on workers rights, and you ve got this book in a nutshell.
Harper s Bazaar, Best New Books of 2022

"An engaging rundown of the ways humanity has strived to cover its collective butt."
The Philadelphia Inquirer

A vivid account of how linens, cottons, silks, synthetics, and wools have been manufactured and traded from prehistoric times to the present You ll never look at a label the same way again.
The New Criterion

A masterpiece of investigative reporting and a riveting adventure story, Worn is both panoramic and richly particular. Thanhauser is the best of guides: humane, engaging, generous with historical anecdote and always able to reveal the telling detail. She shows how the cost of fashion far exceeds any retail price tag, and how the revival of venerable traditions might yet lead us to a sustainable future.
Geraldine Brooks, The New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Chord

Sofi Thanhauser s history of cloth is not just about clothing: it is about ethics, workers rights, women s progress, climate justice. It is the about the fabric of who we are. And as told in Worn, it also makes an absolutely gripping read!
Peggy Orenstein, New York Times bestselling author of Girls & Sex and Boys & Sex

A fascinating read, laying out how our increasingly careless use and discarding of clothing has come to damage our planet. Sofi Thanhauser has carried out a remarkable mass of research on clothes and the fibers they are made from. She has stitched it all together in a clear and engaging style that invites one to keep reading, and to start mending our ways.
Elizabeth Wayland Barber, author of Women s Work: The First 20,000 Years

The story of what we wear is the story of who we are, and Worn offers a riveting, provocative, and eye-opening account. One cannot make sense of our modern world without this book.
Brian Christian, bestselling author of Algorithms to Live By and The Alignment Problem

A must-read. . . Sofi Thanhauser tracks the ingenuity, creativity and human cost of textile production across centuries and cultures in a book which combines remarkable research with heartfelt care.
Clare Hunter, author of Threads of Life

A captivating and deeply researched study of the five main fabrics from which clothing is made...Interweaving eye-popping statistics; immersive descriptions; and vivid profiles of historical figures, Thanhauser unearths the secret life of fabrics with skill and precision. Readers won t look at their wardrobes the same way again.  
Publishers Weekly, starred review

Thanhauser confronts the economic impact and environmental damage wreaked by cloth manufacturers throughout history. She considers various materials linen, cotton, silk, synthetics, and wool and reports on their origins, uses, and global marketing, effectively combining scrupulous research, interviews, examples drawn from history, literature, pop culture, numerous anecdotes, and engaging commentary . . . fresh and thoughtful.
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