Incorporating zero waste with slow fashion is crucial to our future, according to Caitlin Rose Ward, 28, founder and owner of Lonewolf Collective in Crested Butte.

“We’ve gotten into a routine with fast fashion buying the newest items we can,” she says, commenting on how environmentally- destructive the nation’s fashion industry has become. “They don’t last and end up in the landfills because it’s not quality.”

Ward opened Lonewolf Collective in 2013, a web-based minimalist brand that currently sells handmade jewelry, to help be a part of the solution. Her jewelry is handcrafted in her Crested Butte studio and made of locally-sourced, high-quality materials. It’s edgy, classical and ethical from start to finish.

It’s a woman-run show. Each piece takes Ward anywhere from a half hour to four hours to make, and she has part-time help from a woman who interned for the collective. All pieces are guaranteed free repairs if needed.

“I feel like we’ve grown away from the days when things were handmade and you knew who was making it, knew it was going to last and didn’t have to worry about filling up landfill with cheap clothes and jewelry and shoes,” she explains. “I try to make pieces that are sustainable so you can wear them with items you already own.”

Lonewolf Collective is going back to the roots, aiming to make goods that can be passed on for generations. Ward hopes to grow the collective beyond jewelry, offering slow fashion clothes and home goods, and making it a unisex brand so it’s inclusive for everyone. She has also contemplated offering low-waste lifestyle products in the future because of how passionate she is about the movement.

All of her packaging is recyclable and with reusable bags — she uses recycled cotton t-shirts as business cards! In her everyday life, she works to cut back on plastic woven into so many aspects of society.

Originally from Saint Louis, Missouri, Ward moved to Crested Butte about seven years ago to be closer to her preferred terrain — the mountains. In Saint Louis she worked for a fashion photographer and a street artist for a few years.

“Art has always been my release,” she says. While working in the fashion industry, she realized she wanted to work on functional and sustainable art forms. She took a metalsmithing course on a whim and says she fell in love with the material. She thought gem stones were beautiful when naturally found and wanted to find a way to showcase them.

Following her move to the lush mountain town of Crested Butte with her fiancé and two dogs, she continues to use the inspiration surrounding her to create the pieces you’ll find at Lonewolf Collective.

Originally published in the Winter 2020 issue of Spoke+Blossom

Lonewolf Collective: Fashion That Lasts Forever