Teaching Sustainable Fashion through Land-based Learning with Rachel MacHenry

About this episode

Dr. Rachel MacHenry discusses her innovative course that integrates sustainable fashion with land-based learning through urban farming.

In this episode of Podagogies, we speak with Dr. Rachel MacHenry, Assistant Professor of Fashion at TMU, about her innovative course that brings first-year students to the rooftop urban farm to grow, harvest, and dye with natural plants. Blending sustainability, decolonization, and hands-on learning, the course invites students to reimagine fashion as a practice rooted in land-based knowledge and ecological reciprocity. From indigo to madder root, and now flax for linen, McHenry shares how the rooftop garden is transforming design education—and what it means to grow textiles and student engagement side by side. Rachel MacHenry is an Assistant Professor of fashion sustainability, decolonization and design. She has over twenty years of international experience developing textiles and fashion projects in collaboration with artisan communities in Haiti, Nepal, India, and Pakistan, and has worked on projects for both the Government of Canada and UNESCO. Read the transcript: https://tinyurl.com/3fafkpaf

People in this episode

Guest: Rachel MacHenry

Topics covered

• sustainable fashion
• land-based learning
• ecological reciprocity
• decolonization
• hands-on learning

Keywords

• fashion education
• textile design
• urban farm
• natural dyeing

Mentioned in this episode

Products: indigo, madder root, flax

Books & works: Teaching Sustainable Fashion through Land-based Learning

Places: Haiti, Nepal, India, Pakistan

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