Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Transcript of interview, with links to organisations and information mentioned in the video: lowimpact.org/posts/commoning-the-flax-textile-industry-dil-green-of-mutual-credit-services
Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org and Stroud Commons talks with Dil Green of Mutual Credit Services - who design commons models for all sectors of the economy – about how to build a textile commons around the flax industry.
This is the second in a series of 3 interviews about the potential for commoning the textile industry. If you’re interested in commons, it’s a fascinating conversation about what commons might look like in a specific sector like textiles, and how we might get there.
The first is with Rosie Bristow and Nick Evans of Fantasy Fibre Mill, working to resurrect the flax / linen industry in the UK, as a commons. youtube.com/watch?v=AwYXVhOhgfw
The third brings together Nick, Rosie, Dil and Zoe Gilbertson of LIFLAD, to exchange ideas about the potential for building a textile commons. youtube.com/watch?v=f2BSgb71OI8
We’re interviewing key players in the commons economy, to: a) bring their work to a wider audience b) try to find ways to co-ordinate their efforts c) stimulate debate d) help to build the commons economy.
Lowimpact.org: lowimpact.org
Stroud Commons: stroudcommons.org
Commons economy: lowimpact.org/categories/commons-economy
Mutual Credit Services: https://www.mutualcredit.services/
Fantasy Fibre Mill: fantasyfibremill.com
Highlights
1. Land isn't necessarily part of the textile world – it could be owned by a land commons. So a flax grower might be a tenant of the local land commons.
2. Yarn could be the 'common pool resource', with some sort of weighting, based on physical quantity of yarn times some sort of quality multiplier.
3. Then you might have weavers, designers and fabricators in a commons around cloth, which might include more than just linen cloth.
4. The commons needs to take the assets of the old economy in pounds and dollars, but repay returns to investors in the value that we produce, not in pounds or dollars.
5. In the end, building a commons economy is the only way to deliver system change. The way it turns into an economy is when people have bought rent vouchers, flax vouchers, kWh vouchers etc, that they begin to be able to exchange for other things, and not need pounds. If people need fewer pounds, they don't have to work so much.
6. If the commons model is well understood, and there are secondary organisations to help set new ones up and bring best practice and wisdom for how to adapt models and solve problems, we could get rapid uptake.
Transcript of interview, with links to organisations and information mentioned in the video: lowimpact.org/posts/commoning-the-flax-textile-industry-dil-green-of-mutual-credit-services
Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org and Stroud Commons talks with Dil Green of Mutual Credit Services - who design commons models for all sectors of the economy – about how to build a textile commons around the flax industry.
This is the second in a series of 3 interviews about the potential for commoning the textile industry. If you’re interested in commons, it’s a fascinating conversation about what commons might look like in a specific sector like textiles, and how we might get there.
The first is with Rosie Bristow and Nick Evans of Fantasy Fibre Mill, working to resurrect the flax / linen industry in the UK, as a commons. youtube.com/watch?v=AwYXVhOhgfw
The third brings together Nick, Rosie, Dil and Zoe Gilbertson of LIFLAD, to exchange ideas about the potential for building a textile commons. youtube.com/watch?v=f2BSgb71OI8
We’re interviewing key players in the commons economy, to: a) bring their work to a wider audience b) try to find ways to co-ordinate their efforts c) stimulate debate d) help to build the commons economy.
Lowimpact.org: lowimpact.org
Stroud Commons: stroudcommons.org
Commons economy: lowimpact.org/categories/commons-economy
Mutual Credit Services: https://www.mutualcredit.services/
Fantasy Fibre Mill: fantasyfibremill.com
Highlights
1. Land isn't necessarily part of the textile world – it could be owned by a land commons. So a flax grower might be a tenant of the local land commons.
2. Yarn could be the 'common pool resource', with some sort of weighting, based on physical quantity of yarn times some sort of quality multiplier.
3. Then you might have weavers, designers and fabricators in a commons around cloth, which might include more than just linen cloth.
4. The commons needs to take the assets of the old economy in pounds and dollars, but repay returns to investors in the value that we produce, not in pounds or dollars.
5. In the end, building a commons economy is the only way to deliver system change. The way it turns into an economy is when people have bought rent vouchers, flax vouchers, kWh vouchers etc, that they begin to be able to exchange for other things, and not need pounds. If people need fewer pounds, they don't have to work so much.
6. If the commons model is well understood, and there are secondary organisations to help set new ones up and bring best practice and wisdom for how to adapt models and solve problems, we could get rapid uptake.
