Do you know where your clothes come from? And no, I don’t mean the Gap, or China for that matter. I mean sheep, cotton plants and the like. Well, Deepa Natarajan does. The Botanical Gardens have reinstated an old program under her direction, called Fiber and Dye that explores just that.

With the assistance of Sasha Duerr of the Permacouture Institute, Deepa and co. updated the old exhibit for modern times. At the Garden you can check out everything from the raw materials used to create clothing to some handmade finished product to the kinds of plants various dyes come from (see photos below). You can also take a self-guided walk through the Garden itself, which showcases the relevant plants used for both dyeing and material. In addition, the exhibit ran a few workshops, including an Easter Egg dyeing workshop featuring natural dyes that allowed kids to actually see where their dyes come from (way cooler than those little tablets things that come in an Easter Egg dyeing kit).

According to Deepa, the idea behind this is the same as garden programs that many schools do. In those, children are taught where their food comes through garden tours or even by having the kids raise plants. Why not do the same for clothing? It would be cool for people to know that onion skins can create a beautiful golden hue, or cabbage (yes, cabbage) a brilliant blue. You can hear the dinner table conversations now–”but mom, I’d much rather make dye with my cabbage than eat it!”

This exhibit has another goal too–to help raise awareness about eco-fashion and sustainable clothing, or as Deepa called it “Slow Clothing”. Lot’s of eco-fashion is a bit on the pricey side right now, but I’m willing to bet that as awareness grows and more producers start joining in to meet demand that prices will fall. In the meantime, eco-savvy people can try for sustainable fabrics, reusing fabrics (hullo, Vintage!), and clothing made with fair practices. If you’re in the SF Bay area you can also check out the Fiber and Dye exhibit this weekend–it runs until Monday, March 31 and is open from 9am-5pm each day. Admission prices and directions can be found here.