Repair. Renew. Rejuvenate.
The pressing need for Regenerative Farming in the Fashion Industry
The word ‘sustainability’ is no avant-garde concept, at least not anymore. With a cultural shift towards eco-awareness, sustainability has moved from being a niche style statement to a necessary approach in the fashion industry and our daily living. However, something that most of us probably don’t realise is that being ‘planet-friendly’ can happen in different ways and woke brands are starting to seriously consider hitting their sustainable development goals. As slow fashion continues to emphasize on the importance of using natural fibers, organic dyes, reusing and recycling the clothes, as a community we get closer to reducing our own carbon footprints and giving back to our little blue planet.
Today, we have moved far beyond just preliminary measures to actually incorporating circularity in the design and the manufacturing process as well. Brands have started shifting their focus from not just sourcing eco-friendly material but applying zero-waste technologies as well as looking into how processes themselves can become more ‘Green’.
This brings us to the traditional method of farming, now termed as “regenerative farming”, an agricultural technique focusing on soil health. It involves practices such as using natural manure and microorganisms to infuse nutrients into the soil, instead of harmful chemical fertilizers. Effective space planning is also integrated for growing a mix of different crops, in a single farm, in order to increase an intake of a variety of nutrients in the soil, provided by the different variety of crops. Regenerative farming not only improves the quality of the soil, but increases biodiversity, improves the water cycle, and most of all, provides us with a healthy organic output.
The fashion Industry is the world’s second largest polluting industry. It is a fact that manufacturing related activities in the fashion industry “make up 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, dries up water sources, and pollutes rivers and streams”
Regenerative farming may just be the next big repair solution for our environment. Sustainably growing fibres such as cotton, hemp, bamboo, flax, wool, will help produce biodegradable fibers, decreasing textile and water waste. As an added bonus, the organic dyes used in this process will not release any harmful gases into the environment, as opposed to that of chemical dyes. Can we get fashion to finally go green, inside out?
Learn more about how we’ve taken steps towards incorporating eco-friendly measures from the ground up by working with innovative materials that are revolutionising the leather industry and pushing it to become more mindful.