EW’S
gift
GUIDE
COOPERATIVE
SHOPPING
Trillium offers local and sustainable goods
rillium Clothing has succeeded where
few other small businesses in Eugene
have succeeded. The co-op minded
partners uprooted themselves from
the Saturday Market and started a
thriving storefront operation.
Karen Kross, founder and one of
the two people who create the hemp clothing and ac-
cessories under the name Trust Hemp, can be found
working at the small store on Wednesdays.
“We make hemp and organic cotton clothing,”
Kross says. “We are just like the neighborhood store.
On my day, people know they can come in and do
alterations or custom orders, that sort of thing.”
Each of the more than a dozen partners has spe-
cific days to work at the store so the others don’t get
burned out and can spend time with their families —
all of them have children of their own.
Trust Hemp, along with Watermelon Kids and Cir-
cle Creations, all started out as individual Saturday
Market businesses.
Kross’ partner James Breech says the group met
in 2000 and formed a co-op. “We all joined to be-
come one entity,” he says. “You have to mesh person-
alities, you have to mesh businesses and everyone
has a different business style.”
T
8 Eugene Weekly’s GIFT GUIDE 2017
by Max Thornberry
Breech specializes in jewelry but assists Kross
with the clothing business as well. He explained that,
during the recession, jewelry stopped selling as well
but people were still willing to invest in locally made
clothing.
While business slumped, some of the Trillium
members signed up for the Individual Development
Account program at Lane Community College. The
program consisted of creating a business plan, par-
ticipating in counseling and saving. At the end of the
program, students received three times what they
saved in goods. Trust Hemp received pallets of cloth
from Colorado-based company Envirotextiles as their
tangible good.
Four and a half years after opening, Trillium Cloth-
ing is thriving by word of mouth with local artisans.
More than 85 percent of the store’s products are lo-
cally made, Breech says.
Because of the store, the owners have moved out
of the Saturday Market scene but will return this year
for the Holiday Market and will expand their hours in
December to be open on Sundays.
“This is the last thing any of us thought we would
do. I never thought I’d have a store in Eugene. It was
a badge of honor to leave here, to get out of here,”
Breech says. “It’s the best choice we ever made and
we didn’t even know we were making it, really.”
For guys, you can get organic button up shirts for
$65-$85 and for the women on your list, you can get
at tank top or tunic for less than $50. If you are look-
ing to expand your jewelry collection, handmade sil-
ver rings, bracelets and necklaces are sold for $2 per
gram.
Trillium Clothing at 3235 Donald Street is open noon to 6:30 pm Monday
through Saturday.
www.eugeneweekly.com