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Threads of Time A New York Designer Weaves Sustainability into the Fabric of Fashion with Indigenous Chinese Artisans.

By Justin Jin (Full text available on request: justin@justinjin.com)

Angel Chang’s story knits together powerful visuals with a touching narrative of heritage and sustainability. Captivated by the hand-woven textiles of China’s Miao and Dong minorities, Chang left New York’s fashion scene to work directly with these remote artisans in a mountainous region in China. She aimed to create a zero-carbon, handmade fashion line, rooted in tradition but with global reach.

The project took Chang to over fifty villages, where she partnered with indigenous artisans like Fei Fei, whose family produces cotton from seed to button using natural dyes. Chang’s commitment transformed traditional textiles into luxury, sustainable garments that bypass synthetic dyes, plastic, and electricity itself.

Today, her successful project highlights the resilience of these artisans. Chang’s line not only preserves ancient crafts but also challenges fast fashion’s environmental toll, offering consumers an eco-friendly, heritage-rich alternative that honors artisanship.

Angel Chang (right), a New York-based fashion designer, participate in cloth-making with Fei Fei, from whom she sources her cotton fabrics, in Guizhou, China. The weaver, from the Miao indigenous minority that traditionally inhabit the mountainous region, grows and weave their cotton the traditional way.

Text and Photos By Justin Jin

"I was in a horror film," the vegetarian recounts. Amidst that shadowed hall, a kitchen staff recalled the silhouette of the young fashion designer from New York hunched over an iPhone, a beacon connecting her to the metropolis she knew.

This was 2012, when we first crossed paths in that otherwise splendid guest house amidst Guizhou's unspoiled landscapes, where every journey unfolded along hours of serpentine roads. I was in search of photographic stories; she was in pursuit of exceptional fabrics to create her first examples of hand-made fabrics.

Angel, now in her 40s, is a budding fashion entrepreneur with a seed-to-garment fashion line that offers a commercial avenue to traditional Chinese artisans and is zero carbon.

A woman, working with Fei Fei to supply New York Designer Angel Chang, spins cotton thread from the organic cotton they grow. She and Fei Fei live in a mountain village home to the Indigenous Miao ethnic minority in Guizhou, one of China's less modernized provinces.
Fei Fei, a weaver in Guizhou province, China, grows crops in her field in front of her village. She supplies Angel Chang, a New York-based fashion designer, with fabrics made by the organic cotton she grows.
Hand-weavers in Guizhou, China, prepare their organic cotton. The weavers, from the Miao indigenous minority that traditionally inhabit the mountainous region, grows and weave their cotton the traditional way.

Born to Chinese parents who had immigrated to the US, Angel grew up in Indiana and says her eyes were opened to the intricate fabrics made by the Chinese Miao and Dong minorities when she stepped into the Shanghai Museum.

Angel, who had started her career designing at Donna Karan Collection, was captivated by the traditional costumes showcased at the Shanghai Museum. The garments, with their elaborate embroidery and meticulous detail, seemed to evoke the grandeur of haute couture and the refined artistry of ancient dynasties. Yet, they were neither. The museum's placards indicated that these garments were the handcraft of contemporary artisans from Guizhou — one of China's less developed but most picturesque provinces. Nestled within layers of mountainous terrain, the region's ethnic minorities were self-reliant, growing their food, constructing their homes, and sewing their clothes.

Compelled by the discovery, Angel flew directly to Guizhou that very weekend. She embarked on a door-to-door quest across numerous villages, in search of the creators. She found them: elderly women, in humble wooden homes, labouring beneath the glow of a lone bulb, their hands stained with the blue of indigo, weaving patterns as intricate as those that had first caught her eye in the museum.

“It was like discovering gold and looked just like the fabrics I saw in the museums,” she says.

Fei Fei weaves cotton fabric at home in Guizhou province, China. She weaves about 1 - 2 meters of cloth per day.

Angel yearned for fabrics that were not just organically grown but steeped in the story of its makers. She has ventured into about fifty villages on this quest. This pursuit led her to a cluster of five villages cradled in the embrace of Guizhou's mountains, where she encountered Fei Fei, a woman of the Miao minority.

Fei Fei, in her early thirties, noticed Angel's solitary figure meandering through the village. Mistaking her for a lost traveller, she invited her home.

Angel proposed to Fei Fei to collaborate, and the villager agreed. As orders grew, Fei Fei recruited her family and neighbours to co-produce, and now collectively spin and weave around 1,000 metres of fabrics a year that they sell to Angel.

Indigenous artisans dyeing fabric using traditional sustainable method such as tree bark for the indigo colour. They say the dye is entirely vegetal, harmless and can be washed into the river.
A woman from the ethnic Miao minority weaves fabrics using traditional methods. Her hand is black because of the indigo used in dyeing the material.
Indigenous Miao women in Fei Fei’s village in Guizhou, one of China's less modernized provinces, walk down the hill to attend a newborn ceremony. They wear these hand made clothes wherever they go. Their clothes were woven using a wooden loom; the cloth is then dyed with tree bark and glazed it with egg-white.

Angel Chang's Collection

Fabrics produced by Miao ethnic minority weaver Fei Fei, who grows her own cotton, weaves it using a wooden loom, and dyes it with tree bark and glazes it with egg white. She supplies the material to fashion designer Angel Chang, whose work above is shown in New York.

The future holds both promise and challenge for Fei Fei and her fellow artisans. While their crafts have the potential to reach a wider audience, they must navigate the pressures of tourism and commercialization while preserving their cultural identity.

Angel's path also continues to evolve. From surviving power outages in Dimen to collaborating with diverse ethnic artisans and advocating for eco-friendly fashion, she has forged a deep connection with her ancestral heritage and made a name for herself. In doing so, Angel is not only preserving traditional techniques but also helping to shape the future of sustainable fashion.

Angel Chang's indigo collection
Fei Fei and Angel tests some garments.
Fei Fei's father-in-law wears an indigo-dyed costume that he's owned for decades.

Justin Jin is an independent photographer and writer who contributes to the world's leading publications including the National Geographic and Geo. International awards attest to his dedication.

Originally from Hong Kong, now based in Brussels, Justin travels frequently on story assignments around the world. He speaks English, Chinese, Russian, French and Dutch.

He graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in philosophy and social and political sciences.

CREATED BY
Justin Jin
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