Board President

Annette Herboth is Owner and Principal Consultant at Twill Design and Consulting and Associate Partner at Zefyr Consulting, and was previously a Senior Director of Footwear Material Development at Nike, Inc. Annette has nearly 30 years of experience in the footwear, apparel & home goods industries, working with a wide variety of brands, manufacturers, and suppliers. She is a designer & handweaver determined to connect her family history of farming with her love of fiber, passion for making, and desire for promoting sustainable regional industries. 

Board Co-Vice President

Arin Gintowt is partner and President at Eliza Faulkner Designs, and the founder and President of Canflax. With over ten year’s experience in the sustainable fashion industry, and a multi disciplined and diverse background in economics, media, entertainment, and marketing, Arin brings passion and vision, and looks to create a positive impact in whatever he touches. Arin is a ceaseless learner and critical thinker. He enjoys advocating the benefits of durable goods, restorative and regenerative agriculture, and ESG, and enjoys speaking on those subjects.

Board Co-Vice President

Fiona Barrett is a fashion professional based in Boston, Massachusetts, working as a sustainable fashion strategist and creating a regenerative textile ecosystem for Bast fibres. Fiona has over 15 years of experience in the fashion industry with global brands VF/Timberland, L Brands and Marks and Spencer in the UK. She is committed to collective action towards regenerative systems to help combat fashion’s unsustainable footprint.

BoarD treasurer/secretary

Meara McNally Butler is the General Manager at Fairsing Vineyard, a family-run and sustainability-focused vineyard. She is a handweaver with a Master’s degree in Geography, and a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology/Archaeology. Her interests in agriculture, human culture, and craft intersect at the production of local fiber and fabric. Meara sees the potential of bringing new and returning industries to our part of the world. 

Board Director

Alvin Ulrich is owner of Biolin Research Inc. which began as a research facility with the goal of producing value-added fiber from flax grown in the Prairie provinces of Canada. It has morphed into a privately-owned company, under the leadership of Alvin Ulrich, with the purpose of processing and marketing the products available from all portions of flax straw. Biolin’s mission is to utilize 100% of the flax straw for commercial end uses so that the straw, traditionally burned or chopped in the fields by farmers, becomes a viable and profitable product, completing the natural recycle circle.

Board Director

Heidi Barr is a textile artist and founder of kitchen garden textiles, a Philadelphia based lifestyle brand working at the intersection of food and fabric. In 2020 with Emma de Long of Kneehigh Farm, Heidi co-founded the Pa. Flax Project and began working to reestablish a flax for linen supply chain in Pennsylvania. A former costume designer, she holds a BFA in dance from Cornish College of the Arts and is a two-time Leeway foundation grant recipient. Equaling her lifelong commitment to artistic pursuits in dance and textiles, is Heidi’s passion for gardening and her attention to environmental issues. 

Board Director

Jason Asch has been involved in the linen industry since the mid-1980s when he took the helm at Diamond Foam & Fabric, a Los Angeles fabric store that has become, in the intervening years, a cultural landmark. While other stores stocked printed fabrics, Jason traveled to Italy, Belgium and France to source the highest quality woven fabrics, and in particular, linen. In the past 40 years, Jason has developed close, personal relationships with European linen mills and the generations of families who have owned them. Jason is excited to be a part of NALA’s mission to revitalize the linen industry here in Oregon, where he has been a resident since 2020. As a board member of NALA, Jason brings with him his knowledge of traditional linen production in Europe, his vast knowledge of the fabric business, and his close relationships with linen producers around the world.

Board Director

Kristina Foley was introduced to felting wool while completing a BFA in Fiber Structure and Interlocking at Syracuse University and continued her practice after graduation when she moved to Italy. In Tuscany, she developed a ‘nomadic studio’ tailored to felting and natural dyes that reflected the local materials available: European wool varieties, dye plants and secondhand textiles. Her professional work in fashion and design while immersed in the artisan culture of Florence was influential to her craft. In 2018, Kristina moved to Oregon and created Food Shelter Clothing, small collections intertwining beauty, utility, and sustainability. Her felted sheepskins highlight the incredible wool available from small farms in the Pacific Northwest.

BoarD director

Carol Hyland, Founder and Principal Consultant of CS Creative Inc.in Victoria, Canada, brings her expertise in design communications alongside a fervent commitment to promoting local food and fibre products. Originally hailing from Northern Ireland, Carol migrated to Canada’s west coast during her childhood. Her upbringing resonates with tall Irish farm tales, including flax fields and retting ponds on her father’s side, while her mother boasted about rising to a supervisory role at the local linen mill. In 2021, Carol embarked on a personal journey, bridging her family’s linen heritage with her passion for farming and textiles. She has subsequently made Flax Fibre seed available in western Canada through her farm, Alderley Grange. Carol remains steadfast in her mission to champion local, sustainable agriculture and textile production.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Shannon Welsh is the Executive Director of the North American Linen Association. She has been actively revitalizing regional and domestic fiber and textile systems for over 2 decades. An advocate and promoter of fiber, textile, and apparel design seeking to bridge the gaps in the regenerative textile landscape. Shannon has spent over 6 years researching and revitalizing the historic linen industry of Oregon and collaborates globally to advance flax to linen agriculture and production. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of Fibrevolution, Bast Fiber Producers, and is also the Founder and former Affiliate Director of Pacific Northwest Fibershed.