Hair Matters Global Hub Partners

Welcome! This page showcases Matter of Trust’s many Hair Matters program partners around the world.

Huge thanks to all of these wonderful Eco-Heroes!

Global Felting Hubs, Research & Partners

Matter of Trust’s team over Zoom.

Felting Hubs

Partners around the world diverting waste fibers from landfill.

Felting Hubs (See all...)

Partners around the world diverting waste fibers from landfill.

Matter of Trust Flagship Hub

Environmental public charity
Model factory
Exhibit hall
Felting hub
Website: www.matteroftrust.org
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Matter of Trust was established in 1998, founder Lisa Gautier partnered with hair mat inventor Phil McCrory in 2000. We have been growing his idea and running The Hair Matters Program ever since. Networking with salons, groomers, ranchers, felters, researchers and supporting hubs all over the world in order to keep pollutants out of waterways!

Matter of Trust activities in SF, California

Kevin R. filling hair mat with animal fibers in Florida, US.

Matter of Trust Florida

Felting hub
Website: https://matteroftrust.org
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Kevin’s felting hub is very close to Tyndall Air Force Base. He is also part of TheHumSum.org moderator team and works on The Hair Matters Program – Matter of Trust website pages.

Oklahoma Mini Mill – Oklahoma, US

Advisor
Felting hub
Website: oklahomaminimill.com

At Oklahoma Mini Mill we are in the business of processing animal fleeces, in preparation for fiber artists to use in their projects. We work with all breeds of sheep, alpaca, yak, angora, cashmere, camel, bison, and more. We already had a working shop set-up, and were familiar with wet felting, so it was an easy transition to needle felting to make the hair mats for Matter of Trust. We are honored to be a partner in the Hair Matters program!

Happy fiber donor.

Husky Halfway House – Oklahoma, US

Animal rescue – public charity
Groomer
Felting hub
Website: www.huskyhalfwayhouse.org
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Jen’s focus is on the rescue, evaluation, socialization, and rehoming of huskies who are stuck in shelters, at risk of being abused, or end up in homes that are not ready / equipped for such a high maintenance breed. Dogs are then integrated into the pack, socialized in small groups and cared for in a pack leadership based family, then adopted into loving homes. There is also a groomer on site and all the fur from these huskies goes to good use in Hair Matters mats!

Matter of Trust Chile

Entrepreneurs
Inventors
Felting hub
Research partner
Website: matteroftrustchile.org
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Matter of Trust Chile generates Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Marketing projects with environmental and innovation components, where they connect the companies with their community, improving the quality of life through innovative projects with hair.

Supporting farmers, fishermen and communities to preserve and decontaminate water and regenerate soils, with innovation, creativity and collaboration.

Hair booms donations to fishermen, Chile

Matter of Trust Chile

Salon Sustainability, Hampshire, UK

Felting hub
Website: www.salonsustainability.club
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Salon Sustainability is a salon waste recycling company that repurposes salon recycling waste into reusable materials and products.

Salon Sustainability uses salon hair clippings collected from salons and fur from dog groomers to make Hair Mats, which help soak up oil spills in the ocean and stop oil from spreading further and affecting wildlife. Contact us for more information.

Recycling hair in UK Salon Sustainability

Salon Sustainability in UK

Recup’Hair by Papirec

Papirec – SA, Switzerland

Felting Hub
Website: www.recuphair.ch
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

A Swiss group specializing in waste recycling and recovery. One of their activities is the collection and recovery of hair: RECUP’HAIR.

With this in mind, they are looking for ways to give a second life to hair. They created ABSORB’HAIR, a system to recover oil spills in mechanical workshops, using only recycled materials.

Matter of Trust Tokyo, Japan

Felting hub
Website:
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Nana and Hana work together on making hair mats in Tokyo, Japan.

Hana running scrim through felting machine.

Hiukka Hyva in Finland

Hiukka Hyva – Finland

Felting hub
Research partner
Website: https://hiukkahyva.fi
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Miila is a Helsinki, Finland based ecological hair salon owner. For some time she has been researching hair waste and hair mats.
Especially for cleaning oil spills in the Baltic Sea.

Octop’us – France

Felting hub
Website: https://www.octop-us.org
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Lola plans to do training to create hair mats for a depollution campaign that will happen in her city and also in Germany.

Clean up crew.

Matter of Trust Derbyshire, UK

- Felting Hub
- Website: www.matteroftrustderbyshire.co.uk/
- Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org
Matter of Trust Derbyshire is a new Hair Matters Program partner for 2023. It will address the pressing need for sustainable solutions to oil spills whilst creating an uplifting community-focused network of education and environmentally conscious action in Central and Northern England. Mot Derbyshire was founded by Amy, a disabled entrepreneur who, armed with a background in environmental studies, has a great ambition to see Matter of Trust Derbyshire flourish. Hair mat production should commence in May 2023.

Hair Masters, South Korea

Felting hub
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Kwanghee Kim, Hair Masters in South Korea, she owns her hair salon and also has volunteered for 15yrs. She is interested in reusing hairs on the floor. So, she has made some hairpin and art products with hair. She got to know about felting mats with hair, and wants to participate in recycling resources. She believes this project can give a positive influence in our society.

Hair Help The Oceans’ booms

Hair Help The Oceans, Germany

Felting hub
Website: www.hair-help-the-oceans.com
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Hairdressers and their clients can help clean seas, lakes and rivers with cropped hair. Simple, but with great effect!

Emidio and Thomas have joined forces because they want to remediate for nature in a natural and logical way. Together, working with affine partner companies, they are recycling hair in Germany and neighboring countries.

Mucky Duck Farms – Alabama, US

Felting hub
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Mucky Duck Farms, still very much in its infancy, is located in South Alabama on 47 acres. The area formerly was used in the 1900’s for Tung Nut Farms to support the large ship building industry of Bayou La Batre. The soil has a high percentage of red clay, making it difficult for many species of plants to thrive without a quality top soil. One of their first missions is to build soil health. To start, they have incorporated livestock to rotationally graze pastures, and poultry to assist with decomposition. They are thrilled to be a part of Matter of Trust’s Green Wave program. Being a matter of minutes to the Gulf of Mexico, and embracing regenerative agriculture… we’re excited for the multiple possibilities our partnership can bring.

Mucky Duck Farm

Restia, recycling hair in Greece

Restia – Greece

Felting hub
Research partner
Website: https://restia.gr
Post fiber donations through
www.TheHumSum.org

Dimitrios and Chrysa are Greek hairdressers situated in Athens. Greece is surrounded by water and beautiful, unique beaches. They would like to use hair from their salons should accidents that threaten the environment occur.

Warsaw – Poland

Felting hub
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

When Malina read about Matter of Trust and the possibility of felting mats out of hair and fur for the first time, she thought: ‘It is such a great project and I have to be a part of it. Given climate change, I don’t want to stay passive.’

She set up the Malachite Minds Foundation whose goal is to teach society to implement ecological habits in everyday life in exchange for free mental support. The Matter of Trust will be the first partner with whom she will encourage people to save the diversity of our planet’s ecosystem. ‘I believe that with my canine business partner and friends’ support we are able to have a positive impact on society.’, she said.

Cabelegria recycling hair in Brazil

Cabelegria – Brazil

Felting hub
Research partner
Website: https://www.cabelegria.org
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Cabelegria, a Brazilian non-profit organization, receives hair donations, turns them into wigs and donates them to children and women diagnosed with diseases that cause hair loss.

In 2022, the project Fiotrar starts, which aims to produce hair mats for oil removal, as well as develop a filter system prototype which uses hair as a filtering media to remove oils and heavy metals from wastewater.

Dung Dung – Belgium

Felting hub
Website: https://www.hairrecycle.be
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Dung Dung offers solutions and develops waste recovery projects as part of the circular economy in Belgium, recovering hair to use in decontamination of oil in rivers and car workshops.

With the Hair Recycle project, they are dealing with the problems of oil pollution in waterways in Belgium.

Hair Recycle in Belgium

Max Rieswick with client.

Rieswick – Germany

Felting hub
Website: https://www.rieswick.de
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

The Rieswick and Partner GmbH is a family owned wigmaking company in its 5th generation.

We are specialized in wigmaking for medical cases like cancer or alopecia areata.

Our Work material is mostly human hair and what we need for making wigs are lengths from 25cm or longer. That’s the reason why we have a lot of shorter hair we can not use for our wig production.

After a long search for a sensible use of these short hairs we found Matter of Trust and the Hair Matters program.

We are thankful for this partnership and looking forward to help a lot with our work and our mats.

ScissorTail – Norman, Oklahoma

Felting hub – pending
Website: https://www.scissortailmill.com
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Scissor-Tail Yarn & Fiber Mill is a small fiber processing mill located in Norman, Oklahoma. We process fiber from all types of fiber producing animals, including alpacas and llamas, sheep, dogs, angora bunnies, angora goats, and any others you can think of. We can make batts, roving, various weights and plys of yarn, and core spun yarn. We have a wet felter on-site now and are very familiar with needle felting, but don’t currently have the machine. We are fervent supporters of animal rescues, environmental causes, and sustainability. Matter of Trust’s mission fits in perfectly with our goals.

Friendly alpacas

Legendary Alpacas of Texas

Legendary Alpacas of Texas – Maypearl, Texas

Working alpaca ranch
Seed Stock Producer
Education Farm
Mentor Farm
Retail store
Felting hub – pending

Legendary Alpacas of Texas is a 32-acre working ranch of show-quality Huacayan Alpacas that produce award-winning fleece year after year. Founder Gina Glasscock began pursuing her ‘Paca Passion in 2007 and now has over 60 alpacas and crias (babies) on the farm. Annually, Gina shears her herd, amassing Grade 1 and Grade 2 fleece and seconds, all of which is turned into consumer end-products, such as high-quality yarn, hats and scarves, custom rugs, and other home goods and clothing items, all of which are sold on-site in her retail store. She also collects and repurposes alpaca beans (waste) into a rich compost that is cultivated, aged, and then sold as high-quality fertilizer. Gina is an expert in alpaca genealogy and carefully tracks the lineage of current and prospective alpacas and their offspring for prime breeding opportunities that will ensure the long-term viability of the U.S. alpaca population and the integrity of best-in-class fleece. Legendary Alpacas of Texas offers alpacas for sale, for breeding, and for boarding and training and is recognized as a go-to resource for alpaca owners learning the business.

Mot Argentina – Quilmes, Argentina

Social entrepreneurs
Felting hub – pending
Research partner
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Mariano and Julián are experts in industrial processes, management of organizations, socio-environmental training and public relations. They came together with the intention of transforming society into a sense of caring for the environment and generating better living and working conditions. They develop their work from the city of Quilmes, south of Buenos Aires, in cooperation with different actors in the territory. They are starting their studies to reduce the use of water in blueberry fields and clean the river from hydrocarbons

MoT Argentina meeting local authorities

Hair mat used in oil cleaning – Colombia

Matter of Trust Colombia

Waste management services
In-situ bioremediation of contaminated land
Landfarming plant for remediation of contaminated sludge and soil.
Felting hub
Website: www.twm.com.co
Matter of Trust Colombia website: www.matteroftrustcolombia.com
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org
TWM is a Colombian waste management organization interested in finding more sustainable alternatives for the remediation of contaminated soil, especially from oil spills incidents. Being part of the Hair Matters Program, Matter of Trust Colombia represents the opportunity to supply economic and sustainable materials to communities who can be the first responders in oil spills and thus reduce the impacts of these harmful events.

Matter of Trust Edinburgh – Scotland

Felting hub
Research hub
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Matter of Trust Edinburgh and Lothians Hub was founded by Chelsea to develop local solutions to oil spills in the country. Her aim is to make hair mats to combat pollution in cooperation with local crafters such as Made in East Lothian and the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (with which she is an assistant coordinator and marine mammal medic). Other hubs’ agricultural hair felt trials inspired the concept that hair felt could assist seagrass restoration and after reaching out, seawilding trials are being conducted in the west coast of Scotland.

Chelsea, founder of Matter of Trust Edinburgh

Using hair in agriculture with Chams

Matter of Trust BCN – Barcelona, Spain

Felting hub – pending
Research hub
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org
In the context of extreme drought in Europe, Nuria and her team started betting on a composting project to preserve water in the soil. They are using human hair to help Chams, a farmer in the village of Alpens, in the Catalan pre-Pyrenees to experience the effectiveness of water retention and expand this innovation in the region.

Matter of Trust Louisiana, US

Social entrepreneur
Felting hub – pending
Research partner
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Matter Of Trust – Louisiana is nestled on a 24-acre property that serves as an active campground, farm sanctuary, and community hub. Southwest Louisiana, also known as “America’s Amazon,” is on the forefront of the climate crisis and environmental justice movement in America as a result of the immense amount of gas and oil companies along the Gulf Of Mexico that put our biodiversity hotspot at risk.

They aim to mitigate oil spill impact along the Gulf with an inventory of hair mats as emergency preparedness. Additionally, they are exploring research of animal and human hair as a natural solution that is agriculturally useful in our organic permaculture gardens.

Matter Of Trust – Louisiana is directed by Alyssa Portaro, a 2x Awarded National Wildlife Federation EcoLeader. We welcome visitors and volunteers at our green wetland refuge.

Matter of Trust Louisiana

Capilli Trading Inc.

Matter of Trust PH, Capilli Trading Inc. Philippines

Felting hub
Research partner
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Matter of Trust PH is operated by Capilli Trading Inc., a Philippine-based company that aims to pioneer research, manufacturing and large-scale trading for waste human hair in the country.
With people and planet at the heart of the company’s values, they are continuously looking for sustainable waste human hair innovations that could also benefit the local communities.

Being part of the Matter of Trust Network also strengthens Capilli’s objectives of paving a more livable Philippines by bringing in products to their agricultural and archipelagic country.

Matter of Trust London

Material Research Partner
Experimentation
Entrepreneur
Felting Hub
Website:
- www.katherinesoucie.com
- www.sanssoucie.ca
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Designer and entrepreneur who specialises in waste diversion of pre and post consumer waste using a hybrid interdisciplinary approach in order to generate sustainable solutions and regenerative methods to tackle the issue of waste in our environment. The Matter of Trust as an organisation reflects a shared mission and mutual interest in finding the necessary solutions we require to address and identify waste in our local communities. Through this repositioning, it is leading towards a next generation approach to waste within the material supply chain as a valuable resource leading towards future innovation. It is about looking at what exists, respecting our resources and regenerating agency in our communities as we continue to respond to the climate emergency.

Hair discs for flower and plants

Matter Of Trust Baltics, Finland

Felting hub
Research partner
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org
Website: www.slavichairbox.fi
Slavichairbox is an online store based in Finland. They sell, recycle and rent hair extensions. Used hair extensions are the best for making hair mats because of their length. Currently researching the use of hair mats and flower pot discs in the Baltics.

Matter of Trust Idaho, US

Social Entrepreneur
Felting Hub – pending
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Teresa has an Anthropology background and she’s fascinated with the creative ways people have used hair throughout history.

She founded Matter of Trust Idaho to introduce local communities to a sustainable resource in order to conserve water, restore native grasslands, and combat increasingly dry conditions throughout the state.

Matter Of Trust for Lake Geneva

Felting hub – pending
Research partner
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Charlène and Geoffrey, Matter of Trust for Lake Geneva /# Global Techni’Physio Association, aim to actively participate in the depollution of hydrocarbons and heavy metals from the waters of Lake Geneva. Much more than a magnificent pleasure lake, it is above all a precious reserve of fresh water, supplying drinking water to more than a million people. They have set themselves the task of preserving it in all humility by creating a hair mat manufacturing unit located on the French shore.

Mulchair, Tunisia

Experimentation
Entrepreneurs
Felting Hub – pending
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Mulchair is a company created by engineering students from the national engineering school of Tunis. It is specialized in the production of biodegradable mulches used in agriculture. The main objective of their company is to provide you with 100% natural mulch that helps you to limit watering and weeds for healthier and more delicious vegetables and fruits.

Kesakambali Foundation

Felting hub
Research partner
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Kesakambali Foundation is an innovative non-profit organization founded to promote sustainability and help counter the challenges that Indian agriculture is facing now. Their director, Rahul, is an environmental enthusiast, passionate about finding sustainable solutions to challenges.

The Foundation strongly focuses on local factories and encourages using eco-friendly materials and methods to create products that benefit both people and the environment. They provide a unique approach to waste management by using human hair to create natural materials that can be used in agriculture, agriculture mulching, and erosion control. Their goal is to support local communities by providing them with the tools and resources they need to make their land more productive and sustainable. By working with farmers and other stakeholders, they aim to help build a more sustainable future for India.

Sustainable Strands – Canada

Felting Hub
Website: www.turningheads.ca
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Sustainable Strands is a full service hair and Barber salon in Calgary, Alberta. Passionate about making the world a better place and proud to partner with Matter of Trust to recycle hair and educate about sustainability

MOTSA

MOTSA (Matter of Trust South Africa)

Felting hub
Post fiber donations through www.thehumsum.org
MOTSA (meaning : Fortune) is a non profit whose mission is to find purpose in abundance enabling a sustainable future for generations to follow.

They aim to empower, deliver and educate eco-enthusiasts young and old on the many sustainable uses of abundance starting with human hair, fur and fleece… enabling hair health, beauty and the pet industry to put surplus waste to great use for the environment, as the saying goes “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Let’s protect our world with one cut at a time. Creating a Positive purpose.

All Sorts Acres / EcoWool – Canada

Felting Hub
Website: www.allsortsacres.ca
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

All Sorts Acres Farm (soon to be EcoWool) collects unwanted and waste wool and hair from Canadian farms, dog groomers, and hair salons to incorporate into slow release fertilizer pellets. These pellets reduce the need for soil chemicals while using a waste material.

Jennifer is looking forward to expanding the uses of waste wool and hair into many different items that help keep air, water, and soil free from chemicals.

Matter of Trust Ohio

Felting hub – pending
Post fiber donations through www.thehumsum.org

Franey and her family live in rural Ohio. They are interested in aiding sustainable solutions. They have the space, time, and sewing machine know-how to help.

TSP – French Polynesia

Entrepreneurs
Website: www.tsp.pf
Felting Hub
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

TSP is a company devoloping solutions for waste treatment in French Polynesia.

Green Salon Collective, UK

Felting hub – pending
Research partner
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Green Salon Collective’s vision is to raise the standard of the hair and beauty industry by enabling salons to become more ethical and sustainable environments for not only the salon, but for the stylists and salon guests too.

Their unique recycling programme together with education and accreditation programmes enable salons and other businesses in the hair and beauty industry to gain new like-minded clients by becoming true, ethical, sustainable businesses that turn the waste in your bins into meaningful wins.

Every item of salon waste can be used again to benefit our industry, community and the environment.

The sad truth is that mixed recycling does not work. It causes cross-contamination within the bin bags, causing many salon items to be sent to landfill. By providing a circular economy for salons, Green Salon Collective is the solution.

Matter of Trust Europe, Spain

Community Entrepreneurs
Innovation with materials
Research Partner w/ particular interest in EU policy/directives
Website: www.matteroftrusteurope.com
Felting Hub
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Their team consists of experts in material innovation, European green policy, activism, and nautical engineering, and they are currently developing a hub in Barcelona and its surrounding areas. Their aim is to create a community with key stakeholders to produce mats that can soak up up oil spills and regenerate soil in Catalunya during droughts.

They also seek to build relationships with the textile industry and artists to find new uses for our materials… by combining their expertise and collaborating with the community, they are making a significant positive impact on the environment while promoting sustainable business practices in the region.

Collec’tif Pacifique, New Caledonia

Felting hub – pending
Circular economy proponent
Website: https://www.facebook.com/collectifpacifique
Fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Collec’tif promote circular economy in the Pacific Islands and help preventing oil spills. This young association collects hair, fur and fleece to prevent them becoming waste and to produce hair mats and hair boom to contain oil pollutions in New-Caledonia. Its experience could help other islands to produce their own hair mats and hair booms.”

W.A.T.E.R Project, Massachusetts, US

Felting Hub – pending
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Brenna and Amelia are two high school seniors from Holliston, Massachusetts who are passionate about the environment and ready to become the first hair mat-making hub on the Northeast Coast! Working with our town officials and local businesses, they will be expanding the team as they continue this journey.

They plan to implement the hair mats around storm drains to reduce pollution through runoff. They are also planning to include other towns and bring awareness to the organization within our communities.

City of Glasgow College buillding.

City of Glasgow College – Glasgow, Scotland

Felting hub – pending
Research partner
Website: https://www.cityofglasgowcollege.ac.uk
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Alison is now working on an enterprise and research project in the use of recycling human hair to produce hair mats and hair booms. She wants to raise awareness of how amazing hair is as a substance in agricultural use and pollutants.

Good Citizen of Earth, UK

Entrepreneur
Felting Hub – pending
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

“Good citizen of Earth” is Blessing hair and beauty’s aim to achieve a circular economy through materials valorisation techniques from the waste stream and repair.

Ecolau Beauty, Madagascar

Felting hub – pending
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Ecolau Beauty is the first hair recycling and valorization program in Madagascar. Our goal is to responsibly collect and recycle hair from hair salons in Antananarivo to produce hair mats.

These mats will be used for making hair-based mulch products for sustainable agriculture, cleaning waters in port areas and oceans, as well as rehabilitating soils in polluted sites. Ecolau Beauty will collaborate with students from the University of Antananarivo to explore the possibility of creating innovative products using hair.

Hyppanie Essence & Felt C I C, UK

Felting hub
Teacher in the Art of Feltmaking
Fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Stephanie Crechriou, is a City & Guilds Felt maker since 2003.
She has been teaching the Art of Felt making to children and adults in East Sussex since 2012. Stephanie set up Hyppanie Essence & Felt C I C to be a satellite for Humsum.org and Matter of Trust.org,
to collect, store and transform hair into mats on the South Coast of England.
The aim is to become a Sea Hub for the community, allowing all individuals to meet and be educated on how to be active members
to protect our Sea and Soil and to provide the ports with hair mats that would soak oil spills in the Marinas.

Worth a Wool Initiative, Malaysia

Felting hub – pending
Innovation Centre in Agritechnology for Advanced Bioprocessing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Pagoh Campus
Research farm / farm market
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

A sustainable and eco-friendly initiative aimed at promoting the value of wool in Malaysia and encouraging its use in various applications especially in agriculture instead of being discarded.

The initiative seeks to raise awareness through educational workshops, demonstrations and collaborations about the benefits of wool, its renewable and biodegradable properties, and the many potentials and opportunities it provides to the communities.

OS Barbers – London, UK

Barber
Felting hub – pending
Website: https://osbarbers.co.uk
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

My name’s Joe, I’m one of the owners at OS Barbers. We’ve recently made a pledge to become a fully sustainable company by 2022.

Barbers in front of barber shop.

Spring Creek Sproingers 4-H Club, Oregon

Felting hub – pending
Website: https://www.joyfulllamaranch.com/about-us
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

The Spring Creek Sproingers 4-H Club is an integral part of the Joyful Llama Ranch where Joyce O’Halloran has been breeding and selling pack llamas for over 25 years. Club co-leader, Don Berg, is leading the fiber felting project to ensure that the 20-30 fleeces we produce each year do not go to waste.

Matter of Trust Malaysia

Felting hub – pending
Teacher in the Art of Feltmaking
Fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Matter of Trust Malaysia was founded by Heather and team to develop local solutions to combat pollution in the country.

Their aim is to upcycle hair waste into agricultural and industrial products such as make hair mats to combat pollution in the waterways and sea; and prevent them from going into landfill.

Being part of the Matter of Trust network brings valuable knowledge and experiences shared among the partners to local communities.

Greater Blue Ridge Matter of Trust

Felting hub – pending
Teacher in the Art of Feltmaking
Fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

The Greater Blue Ridge Matter of Trust is fiber recycling Hub that brings communities together to provide recycled hair, wool and fleece to produce mats that absorb petrochemicals and help keep watersheds pristine.

They are also planning to create fiber discs for growing food and looking to provide mats for local communities promoting clean water, improving growth in community gardens and promoting sustainable agricultural practices.

Their six beautiful English Angora Rabbits and English Mastiff
supplement their fiber resources. They are members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and are also looking to partner with tribes across the Americas to provide resources to preserve fresh water and supplement tribal agriculture .

Wolfie – All for dogs. Croatia

Felting hub – pending
Dog business
Website: www.wolfie.hr
IG: https://www.instagram.com/wolfie_zg
Fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

WOLFIE is a dog business located in Zagreb, Croatia; founded with the idea of bringing up the standard of living for all dogs in Zagreb.

They work in 7 main areas: WOLFIE INN&OUT looking after the dogs when the owners can’t; WOLFIE ACADEMY, a school for dogs of all ages); WOLFIE GROOMING makes sure furs, nails, ears and teeth are taken care of; WOLFIE WORKSHOPS for the owners and future doggy colleagues; WOLFIE VET+ taking care of dog health; WOLFIE PROTEGES prepares stray dogs for their new homes and
WOLFIE MATTER OF TRUST recycles fur and conducts scientific research and development of fur/hair mats for the use in sanation of ecological catastrophes and for filtration of waste water

Proyecto Sirena, Venezuela

Felting hub
IG: https://www.instagram.com/proyectosirenaorg/
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Proyecto Sirena started with the purpose of cleaning up the Lake of Maracaibo, affected by oil spills and pollution, manufacturing booms with human hair.

Recovering human hair, fur and fleece, this group is fighting the hydrocarbon wastes that threatens this important marine ecosystem.

Sanctuary Farm, Arizona

Felting hub – pending
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Sanctuary Farm & Rest House is a small farm with rescue alpacas, heritage livestock, and pastured poultry. We also host people in recovery from addiction and substance abuse, or people in helping professions who need a short-term respite stay. We process most of our alpaca fiber on the farm, and look forward to making use of alpaca, sheep, dog, and other fibers as a felting hub.

Donors, End Users and Research Partners

All the people and organizations making “hair recycling” possible.

Donors, End Users and Research Partners (See all...)

All the people and organizations making “hair recycling” possible.

Megan observing student perform adsorbtion experiment.

Dr. Megan Murray, The Phyto Lab, UTS -Sydney, AU

Research partner
Website: https://thephytolab.com/who-we-are/
ScienceDaily Article: Oil Spill Clean-up gets Doggone Hairy
Decontaminating Terrestrial Oil Spills: A Comparative Assessment of Dog Fur, Human Hair, Peat Moss and Polypropylene Sorbents.
University of Technology Sydney, Australia Research on Human Hair as an Oil Spill Sorbent, see Journal of Env. Science article below for published results.
Journal of Environmental Science Research Article Comparative Effectiveness of Natural By-Products and Synthetic Sorbents in Oil Spill Booms

FeltCrafts – New Mexico, US

Equipment and supplies
Website: https://feltcrafts.com

Feltcrafts is dedicated to providing felt artists and crafters with professional-grade needle and felting machines and wet felting machines.

Feltcrafts’ needle felting machine.

Terre de Couleur Plant based Organic Hair Color Range

Terre de Couleur

Advisors
Development

Terre de Couleur has developed and marketed the first French range of 100% natural and organic hair care and hair color products. Our formulas based on a unique biotechnology are efficient, focused on care, health, beauty and well–being.

Green Circle Salons – Canada

Donor
Website: https://greencirclesalons.com

Created by beauty industry leaders, our award-winning program empowers salons to recover up to 95% of their beauty waste. That includes previously unrecoverable materials and hard-to-recycle items like hair clippings, foils, excess hair color, aerosol cans, and color tubes.

Salon hair collection pile.

Salon hair collection.

Coiffeurs Justes – France

Advisors
Website: https://coiffeurs-justes.com

Artisan Coiffeur depuis 32 ans, je connais parfaitement les enjeux de notre métier et notre impact sur l’environnement. Aujourd’hui plus que jamais, nous devons prendre conscience que chaque action peut changer le monde de demain.
Depuis 2015, nous travaillons à la sensibilisation de toute une profession au recyclage des cheveux.

Glam Seamless – US

Donor
Website: https://www.glamseamless.com/

Glam is sending Matter of Trust their recycled hair extensions which would otherwise go into landfill.

Hair extensions applied by hair stylist.

San Francisco Department of Environment

End user
Pilot study

Matter of Trust is a city vendor for San Francisco and has placed hair mats in used motor oil sites with San Francisco Department of Environment. Other organizations involved are: Port of SF, SF Rec and Park, Harbor Master’s Office, SF Fire Dept, City Yachts.

San Francisco’s used motor oil recycling site.

Prince holding up sample hair mat.

Air Force Civil Engineering Center

Research partner
End user
Pilot study
Biodegradation of Medium Chain Hydrocarbons Research Paper
Air Force Civil Engineering Center and Matter of Trust Research Collaboration

Inlet Guard – Texas, US

End user
Pilot study
Inlet Guard Storm Drain Maintenance Pilot Report

InletGuard makes storm drain cages. A successful pilot study in Garland, Texas, led to more cities using them.

North Richland Hills storm drain installation.

David N. fulfilling order.

Nobis Group – New Hampshire, US

End user
Pilot study
Website: https://nobis-group.com

Founded in 1988, Nobis Group is an integrated consulting firm providing engineering and environmental solutions for public and private projects of all sizes. We are committed to solving the challenges of making the Earth a better place to live – community by community, and project by project.

Emma Tarlo – London, UK

Author
Website: https://www.gold.ac.uk/anthropology/staff/e-tarlo/

Emma Tarlo is a professor of anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London. She regularly gives public lectures worldwide and contributes to BBC Radio programmes and news articles. Her previous books include Clothing Matters, winner of the 1998 Coomaraswamy Prize, and Visibly Muslim.

Entanglement Book Cover.

BUYa Beauty – US

Donor partner
Website: https://buyabeauty.com/

BUYa Beauty™ is a proud partner of Matter of Trust. Together we are combating climate change by cleaning up oil spills in our oceans with human hair mats we make with discarded hair extensions.

For every BUYa Beauty™ Spirit Clip you buy, you help us soak up petrochemicals in storm drains, wells, filtration systems, rivers, our oceans with human hair from around the world.

Ecocastillo & Ecoltura Barbershop, Colombia

IG: https://www.instagram.com/ecolturabarberia/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ecoltura.barberia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555951635437
Post fiber donations through www.TheHumSum.org

Ecocastillo together with Ecoltura barbershop seek innovative and effective solutions to simultaneously address the problem of poor waste management in barbershops, hairdressers, beauty salons and the problem of soil contamination due to the use of agrochemicals in the coffee region, Colombia. Generating advances and studies in the use of hair to convert it into organic fertilizer.

Art & Design

Hair mats and booms can be transformed into something unique…

Art & Design (See all...)

Hair mats and booms can be transformed into something unique…

Hairarium – L.A. (US)

Art Installation

The Wardian Case was invented in London and was a small container designed to transport plants that botanists would find during expeditions that would otherwise die during transport back to the UK.

The common terrarium was derived from the Wardian case, and is another form of enclosure that sustains smaller biotopes as fragments/representations of full scale ones.

‘Hairarium’ is a reinterpretation of these two spatial containers, but seeks to re-link the human into the larger ecological picture as a being that takes part in it. The sculpture is made of human hair and resonates ideas of a keepsake/memory object (such as a lock of hair) while also hosting and sustaining plant life.

Figural in shape, it can be read as an object, an offering and/or a monument– a spatial object made of human hair to support non-human life.

Pyramid Project – Bangkok, Thailand

Art Installation
Website: https://pareid.com/Follicle-BKK
Website: https://foll-i-cle.com/

Human hair is a complex matrix of different records of toxicity contained within the human body as a consequence of one’s living environment.
Follicle is an event and a pavilion that invites Bangkok’s inhabitants to take part in a collective effort to map toxicity in the city through people.

Fol(i)cle installtion in Bangkok, Thailand.

Visitors at exhibit.

University of London – London, UK

Art Installation
Website: http://hairhumanstories.co.uk

Hair! Human Stories is a pop up exhibition which explores the extraordinary qualities and uses of human hair – our original fibre.

Design Museum – Helsinki, Finland

Art Installation
Website: https://www.designmuseum.fi/en/exhibitions/design-club-open-call-2-critical-design/

Critical Tide exhibition will open at the Design Museum’s Gallery. It brings together projects and works that explore the sea and the potential for positive impact through design. Critical Tide will combine research, activism and community engagement within the exhibition space.

Rapunzel displayed at the Design Museum in Helsinki.

Felters preparing hair mat for exhibition.

Horniman Museum – London, UK

Art Installation
Website: https://www.horniman.ac.uk

The Horniman Museum is having an exhibiton on Hair in October 2021

Limpiando petróleo, en movimiento – Chile

Art Installation

Booms are transformed into an artistic element, a soft sculpture, to make themselves known and reach people’s consciences. These bodies of human hair and cotton are completed with water, which they filter and decontaminate… Hair fibers are intertwined like a blanket that remembers the sea when it is calm, but can quickly change its shape, creating currents, waves, figures and movements that appear and they disappear with the constant interaction of the visitor. The same constancy that creates shapes and waves in the sea and life on our shores

The work was exhibited in the first edition of the “Bienal de Arte y Ciencia Concepción, Chile 2022” and during next year it will be exhibited in the “Pinacoteca de Concepción” and “Sala de arte CCU”, Chile

Limpiando petróleo, en movimiento

Men’s fashion week 2023

AIREI, L.A.

Artistic collaboration

AIREI brought hair mats to the Men’s Fashion Week Paris 2023… all a buzz with their message for fashion in harmony with the planet!

Clothing is our body’s protection and Earth is our home and shelter. Their creative idea of incorporating our hair mats on the runway is spreading the word about hair mat program for soil and oil spills which uses hair as a filtering media to remove oils and heavy metals from wastewater.

Bob Studio – Chile

Artistic performance

Male and her team created amazing hats, made with hair, for Salon Look, Chile 2021 to increase awareness about hair recycling. This project was in collaboration with Matter of Trust Chile

WHY THIS MATTERS?

Satellite factories greatly decrease the process’s carbon footprint and create new sustainable jobs. There are so many benefits to making hair mats – through your own operation or volunteering at an existing one. You are promoting local green business and engaging with your community on sustainable solutions to global problems!

Logos & Media

For those looking for more information on the hair mat felting process, how to develop a satellite factory into a business, or how Matter of Trust’s Hair Matters Program came to be and it’s current mission, below you will find all that you need.

To experience additional resources, please check out our Hair Matters Research and Resources page.