Quebec parka company boosts milkweed crops, monarchs

MONTREAL — Quartz Co., a Quebec parka company which makes coats with milkweed fibre as insulation, is renewing its commitment to sell coats made with the plant’s floss.

“It’s part of our generation to be a bit more eco-friendly and responsible. The project seemed pretty aligned with our values,” said Francois-Xavier Robert, Quartz Co.’s chief operating officer.

That initiative benefits the farmers in Quebec and Vermont who grow milkweed, and the North America’s severely depleted population of monarchs. The butterflies depend on milkweed, sole host for the eggs and only food for the caterpillars. Efforts to restore monarchs rest in part on establishing new lands for the plant to grow. Research indicates plots of milkweed in farmers’ fields are particularly attractive to the monarchs, perhaps more so than roadside stretches and urban patches that butterflies may or may not find.

Quebec researchers developed a way to transform fibre from the long-undesired weed into a lightweight insulation that can replace down and synthetics. But the effort has been bumpy, with the initial producer of the fibre collapsing last year. Harvesting and production technology is immature; hand-picking the crop is often required to yield the silky fibres needed for high-end clothing.

Over 100 farmers in Quebec and a half dozen in Vermont are growing milkweed for the Monark co-operative, tapping Quartz as their sole market for clothing insulation. Parkas from Quartz, based outside Montreal, are sold in more than 275 stores internationally and online.