THANK YOU FOR JOINING US IN 2023
What a pleasure to be in person with 130 leaders at the Regenerative Agriculture & Textiles Summit. A two day event filled with insights, critical thinking, optimism, and vital discussions needed to transform the textiles industry.
Thank you to all our speakers, partners and attendees for making the Summit such an educational, thought-provoking and industry shaping couple of days!
WHO ATTENDED?
INNOVATION SHOWCASE
Congratulations to our 2023 Innovation Showcase winner, Trace!
2023 SELECTION COMMITTEE
Lisa Sebesta
As Founder of Sitari Capital, Lisa works with investors to evaluate and manage impactful, direct investments in private companies that align with their values. She was previously a Managing Partner at Fresh Source Capital, LLC, and a General Partner in Fresh Source Capital Fund 1, which focuses on the sustainable food and agriculture sector. Previously Lisa spent 15 years as an equity analyst and portfolio manager for boutique investment firms in Boston.
Lisa has served as an advisor and/or board director for several food and agriculture organizations, including Atlantic Sea Farms, Farmers To You, Big Picture Beef, and Boston Public Market.
Lisa holds an undergraduate degree from Holy Cross and earned her Masters at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She is a CFA® Charterholder and member of the Boston Security Analysts Society.
Renee Cheung
Renee is Managing Partner of Bonterra Partners, an investment advisory firm she founded in 2010 that helps investors develop pioneering agriculture, forestry and other natural capital investments that generate financial returns and regenerate the environment and local communities. She has led and evaluated numerous sustainable agriculture investments in both developed and emerging markets on behalf of investment firms, family offices, corporates, foundations, NGOs and multilateral development banks. Renee was formerly Senior Vice President, Real Assets at New Island Capital, where she focused on investments in sustainable and regenerative agriculture and forestry in the Americas and the rest of the world. Previously, she was a private equity executive at RIT Capital Partners PLC and Pantheon Ventures. Renee received a BS in Computer Science and an MS in Management of Science & Engineering from Stanford University.
Patrick Smith
McKenzie Smith
2023 SPEAKERS
Rebecca Ballard
Brent Crossland
Liz Hershfield
Dalena White
Byron Rath
Sarah Kelley
John Kay
Heinz Zeller
Heinz initially worked in chemical research, first on anti-malaria and later on biodegradable polymers. Moved on to project management and completed a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems.
He joined HUGO BOSS Ticino, South Switzerland, in 1998 with the responsibility to insource all existing textile and leather licensees, taking over the responsibility of logistics and participated at various corporate business-reengineering projects.
After the completion of the Cert. Adv. Study (CAS) in CSR, he established the HUGO BOSS sustainability road map and the sustainability strategy. Based on this, the required structures and programs were implemented, and he led the various involved departments to publish the first sustainability report in 2013. The results of this work are many recognitions like CDP DACH sector leader, robecosam industry mover or the listing in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2017.
Moreover, he created important public documents like the three whitepapers on Natural Capital Valuation or policies for the environment, plant based materials, animal welfare, responsible products and more with the help of some well-known cotton and fiber experts as well other field experts
Deepika Mishra
Dr. Mishra is responsible for analysing data input for the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol. She is experienced in communicating about soil health data with growers and with the wider supply chain. She holds a PhD in Soil Science, which she obtained by producing a dissertation on “Improvement of cotton fiber quality with chemical mutagenesis”.
Matthew Sheffer
Matt Sheffer is a farmer, designer, researcher, writer, and champion of the regenerative agricultural movement.
Matt has worked in production agriculture for over 10 years. He has extensive experience working in diverse
systems at varying scales, implementing large-scale regenerative transition, and developing regional
regenerative supply chains. For the past four years, Matt has been leading a non-profit research organization,
Hudson Carbon, working on advancing science and policy to support landscape-scale regenerative food system
transition across the globe.
Matt is a systems thinker who is passionate about food systems, ecology, and ecosystem regeneration. He is
dedicated to finding solutions that harmonize the produciton of food, feed, fiber, fuel, and medecine with the
complex interactions and cycles that define healthy ecosystems.
Zack Angelini
Zack Angelini is a recognized leader in sustainability combining passion, drive, scientific knowledge, and
business experience to strategically deliver positive impacts.
Zack formerly led global sustainability at Timberland, a VF company. In this role, Zack developed and
implemented Timberland’s product sustainability strategy, setting public-facing goals and driving internal
processes for success. This strategy led Timberland to achieve the 2020 Sustainability Leadership Award
from Footwear News.
Zack also established and led cross-functional working groups, embedding sustainability across the
organization and leveraging each function’s capabilities to bring sustainable solutions to market. With
Zack’s leadership, Timberland and parent company VF Corporation built new regenerative agriculture
supply chains for their top volume natural materials, including leather, cotton, and natural rubber.
During his time at Timberland, Zack participated in industry-wide organizations, such as the Textile
Exchange, the Outdoor Industry Association, the Savory Institute, and Regenerative Rising through which
he worked collaboratively to solve sustainability issues across the industry.
Prior to joining Timberland, Zack worked for international government and non-profit organizations focused
on marine plastic pollution, oil spill response, and sustainable energy development in the United States,
Australia, and Ghana.
In 2021, Zack was named to the GreenBiz 30 Under 30 List of emerging leaders in business sustainability
around the world, and Drapers 30 Under 30 List of rising stars in fashion retail. In 2022, Zack was recognized
as the Sustainability Alumni of the Last Decade by the University of New Hampshire, where he holds a
Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Civil
Engineering.
In his current capacity, Zack provides sustainability strategy consulting services for major brands across the
food, fashion, and outdoor industries, with a focus on regeneration.
Njeri Kimotho
Andrew Lentz
Andrew Lentz, the former Policy Director for the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC), is joining the Environmental Defense Fund as a Director of Federal Affairs for agriculture policy. He will lead EDF’s engagement with policymakers at the federal level to advance climate-smart agriculture and shape proposals in the upcoming Farm Bill.
“While I am sad to be leaving such a terrific team at ESMC, I am so excited to be joining EDF in their efforts to support farmers’ transition to a climate-smart future,” he said. “Agriculture is uniquely positioned to offer immediate nature-based climate solutions and I look forward to working with policymakers to put farmers and ranchers at the center of our nation’s climate-change mitigation strategy.”
In his new role with EDF, Andrew will work closely with the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA), which brings together environmental and agricultural stakeholders to jointly advocate for climate-smart agriculture legislation, and which EDF serves as co-chair. Andrew also worked with FACA during his time at ESMC, which is a general member of the alliance.
In his immediate previous role, Andrew led ESMC’s engagement with federal and state policymakers to educate them on environmental markets for agriculture and develop policy that reduces barriers to entry for farmers and ranchers in order to scale market adoption. He also co-led ESMC’s Working Group on Inclusion & Racial Justice to identify and remove obstacles to equality, equity, inclusion, and racial justice for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in agriculture. “While environmental markets are an important tool in the agriculture sector’s toolbox, it was important for us to make sure we were not developing yet another system of oppression for BIPOC farmers. I am looking forward to continuing to advocate for a broad portfolio of strategies that move the sector towards its climate and equity goals,” Lentz said.
Prior to his service with ESMC, Andrew held various positions in the public and private sectors, including for USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service where he worked to build agricultural markets in post-conflict regions such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and throughout sub-Saharan Africa. He also previously held positions with Deloitte’s Policy & Government Relations team and in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Franklin Holley
Franklin Holley has over 20 years of experience in sustainable agriculture/sustainable sourcing, conservation programming, and community development spearheading diverse collaborations that result in better outcomes for all stakeholders in our agricultural systems. As Director of Sustainable Fashion at Conservation International, Franklin leads efforts to transform the production of raw materials in the fashion industry from approaches that deplete the land and degrade our environment to ones that offer positive solutions for people, nature, and climate.
Prior to joining CI, Franklin was the Director of Food and Agriculture at the Keystone Policy Center, where she led multi-stakeholder food and agriculture initiatives focused on issues such as sustainable natural resource use, wildlife habitat and biodiversity, climate change, and farm labor. She has also held previous roles with the World Wildlife Fund, Southern Maryland Resource Conservation & Development, and the University of Tennessee Extension. Franklin has an MS in International Agricultural Development from the University of California, Davis and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Virginia.
Scott Herndon
Scott Herndon serves as the President of Field to Market. Prior to joining Field to Market in 2022, he served as the Vice President and General Counsel of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association, focusing sustainability, the Farm Bill and regulatory issues.
Scott has also served as Director of Global Government and Public Policy for S & P Global in Washington, D.C. and in various roles for Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and the Florida Senate. He also worked in the orange juice production business started by his great grandfather, for Louis Dreyfus Commodities in Brazil, and for a citrus and cattle business in Florida.
Scott holds a JD from the University of Miami, an MBA from the University of Florida, and a BA from Tulane University. He has studied in Costa Rica, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil. Scott currently lives in Washington, DC with his wife, daughter and Labrador Retriever. He is admitted to practice law by the Supreme Court of the United States, the District of Columbia and the State of Florida. Scott currently serves as Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Agricultural Advisory Committee.
Steven Pires
Mariana Gatti
Andy Jordan
Dr. Jordan holds a PhD in Environmental Health and long-standing experience in working side-by-side with cotton growers to support their progress on sustainable agricultural practices. He was awarded the 2019 Trusted Adviser of the Year by Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture. He has also been at the center of the launch of the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, for which soil health is one of the main areas of focus.
Megan Meiklejohn
Megan Meiklejohn is a sustainability practitioner with experience working in the fashion, green building, and manufacturing sectors.
As SVP of Supply Chain Innovation for Land to Market, Megan is focused on creating and scaling positive impact through strategic supply chain development and connecting regenerative growers to brands. She holds a BS in Environmental Resource Management from Penn State and an MS in Impact-Focused Business and Investing from the Glasgow Caledonian New York College.
Since 2014, Megan has focused on supply chain transparency and the impacts from raw material sourcing within the fashion industry. At EILEEN FISHER, a NYC based women’s clothing brand, she worked with the Savory Institute’s Argentinian hub, Ovis 21, to source wool fiber from the network for the brand’s largest merino wool program. Seeing first-hand how a brand’s support of regenerative land management could help drive ecosystem restoration and financial stability for the growers, Megan's focus turned to creating positive outcomes through the lens of business.
By designing supply chains from the farm forward, she has helped brands source natural fibers that support ecosystem functioning and local communities.
Carli Rosencranz
Hannes Schoenegger
Hannes Schoenegger, born in Innsbruck, Austria is co-founder and CEO of Swiss bag brand QWSTION and it’s «spin-off» company Bananatex®, which represents a self developed, fully circular textile made from 100 % banana fibres. QWSTION has been making bags and everyday goods from plants since 2008 – ones that unite responsibility with functionality and timeless aesthetics. The efforts have been honoured with several international awards for innovation in sustainability and outstanding material development, including a Cradle to Cradle Gold Certification. Besides for QWSTION bags, Bananatex® has already been used by major global brands for furniture, footwear and accessory applications.
Tameka Peoples
Karen Wynne
Karen Wynne spent most of her adult life working on and with smaller organic farms. After working on a farm in Virginia and starting a farm in New York state (and getting her degree in soil science), she moved south over twenty years ago. For a few years she delineated wetlands and mapped soil on land from Florida to Arkansas, and eventually set roots in Alabama.
Karen served as the founding executive director of the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network, a grassroots organization focused on strengthening local and equitable food systems throughout the state. She shifted to providing individual technical assistance for farmers across the country, developing hundreds of farm plans focused on whole farm systems, sustainable and regenerative practices, and organic certification and transition.
For the past five years, Karen has worked with Better Cotton to build a stronger network of commodity cotton growers and key partners in the US and promote sustainable and regenerative practices at scale. She is also building better connections with their counterparts across the globe.
She still raises good food on her family’s 24 acres and even grows a little bit of Mississippi Brown heirloom cotton.
Lisa Sebesta
As Founder of Sitari Capital, Lisa works with investors to evaluate and manage impactful, direct investments in private companies that align with their values. She was previously a Managing Partner at Fresh Source Capital, LLC, and a General Partner in Fresh Source Capital Fund 1, which focuses on the sustainable food and agriculture sector. Previously Lisa spent 15 years as an equity analyst and portfolio manager for boutique investment firms in Boston.
Lisa has served as an advisor and/or board director for several food and agriculture organizations, including Atlantic Sea Farms, Farmers To You, Big Picture Beef, and Boston Public Market.
Lisa holds an undergraduate degree from Holy Cross and earned her Masters at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She is a CFA® Charterholder and member of the Boston Security Analysts Society.
Renee Cheung
Renee is Managing Partner of Bonterra Partners, an investment advisory firm she founded in 2010 that helps investors develop pioneering agriculture, forestry and other natural capital investments that generate financial returns and regenerate the environment and local communities. She has led and evaluated numerous sustainable agriculture investments in both developed and emerging markets on behalf of investment firms, family offices, corporates, foundations, NGOs and multilateral development banks. Renee was formerly Senior Vice President, Real Assets at New Island Capital, where she focused on investments in sustainable and regenerative agriculture and forestry in the Americas and the rest of the world. Previously, she was a private equity executive at RIT Capital Partners PLC and Pantheon Ventures. Renee received a BS in Computer Science and an MS in Management of Science & Engineering from Stanford University.
Patrick Smith
Cannon Michael
Mead Hardwick
Mead Hardwick is a Partner at Hardwick Planting Company. Hardwick Planting Company produces 8,000 acres of cotton, corn, soybeans, grain sorghum and wheat.
Mead’s focus at Hardwick Planting Company is strategic and long-range planning, financial planning, cost of production analysis, lending needs, equipment acquisition strategy, development and implementation of precision agriculture systems and precision terrain designs. Mead has completed The Executive Program for Agriculture Producers (TEPAP), is a Certified Louisiana Master Farmer and was awarded the 2020 Louisiana Master Farmer of the year. Mead serves on the board directors for Cotton Incorporated, EWR, Inc., Tensas Co-op Gin, Tensas State Bank and the Louisiana Agricultural Corporation, LLC Self Insured Fund (LAC – SIF).
Prior to his role at Hardwick Planting Company, Mead obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Finance from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, in 2004. From 2004 – 2015, Mead worked for Dallas based corporate real estate firm Fischer & Company specializing in industrial real estate development for various FedEx divisions in the U.S. and Canada. After living in Dallas, TX for 14 years, Mead and his family returned to their family farm in 2014.
Mead has been married to his wife Felicia for 16 years. They have three children – Will (13), Caleb (11) and Vivian (6). Mead, Felicia, and their children live in Monroe, Louisiana.
Michael Miller
A U.S. Air Force veteran, Mike Miller has a combined 20+ years experience as a Sustainability and Environmental professional. He has a broad background in the environmental and agricultural sectors in driving sustainable principles for successful economic, health and equity achievement. Mike leverages his diversified technical and operational expertise on civil infrastructure, manufacturing and soil health to promote climate change mitigation, renewable energy development and a decarbonized economy.
Inka Sachse
Inka Sachse has been supporting international food and textile supply chains in their production, marketing and sustainability efforts for more than twenty years. After working a year on Irish farms, Inka studied organic agriculture at the University of Kassel, Germany. While spending a year with the ERASMUS programme at the university of agronomy in Perugia, Italy she gained insights into farm inspection and certification at the organic farming association AIAB Umbria. Following her diploma, she supported organic advocacy and lobby work with the networking organization IFOAM- Organics International in Bonn. She supported European importers, wholesalers, processors and farmer’s cooperatives as sales, sourcing, purchasing, quality and troubleshooting agent with the organic trade agency artebio in Lüneburg. Later she organized stakeholder educational and networking events, as well as sector studies around organic plant and animal production and -markets in Central and Eastern Europe for the NGO EkoConnect in Dresden. From 2014 onwards she has been supporting international supply chain actors on their strategy development for on- farm sustainability, especially regarding soil health and fertility, as well as doing holistic sustainability assessments and setting up GHG emission reduction and soil carbon sequestration projects for the private consultancy company Soil & More Impacts, later named sustainable AG in Hamburg. After nearly two years of common projects, Inka has started working directly for the Aid by Trade Foundation in July 2023 in order to further deep dive into sustainable farm impacts in smallholder environments. Inka speaks multiple languages and has been active in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. She loves working with farmers and sees her vocation in the integration of people, skills and knowledge as well as in the promotion of sustainable and innovative practices in the agricultural sector worldwide.
Alison Ward
Alison Ward has over 30 years of international experience in sustainability and corporate affairs. Alison is the CEO of CottonConnect, where she leads a team of over 80 employees, impacting the lives of over 560,000 cotton farmers in India, China, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Under Alison’s leadership the organization: drives supply chain transparency connecting sustainable fibres from farm to store; focuses on the rights and skills of women in supply chains through pioneering gender programmes; and continues to develop innovations at a farm level. She leads cotton strategies and programmes for global brands and retailers.
Previously Alison worked with Mondelez International and Kraft Foods and was the Global Head of Corporate Responsibility in Cadbury.
With a mission to drive scalable change, Alison serves as a Member of the Sustainable Cotton Steering Committee for Textile Exchange. She also sat on the Sustainability Advisory Committee for the London Olympic Games and has been a Coach and Mentor to commercial teams at WWF and the Ethical Trade Initiative.
McKenzie Smith
Griffin Christensen
Carolyn Gahn
Ben Knuth
Josh Knauer
Daren Abney
Nicole Tanner
Mitchell Hora
Billy McCall
Billy McCall is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kintra Fibers, an H&M-backed materials science company that has developed a proprietary biobased and biodegradable polyester.
By utilizing biobased inputs and designing a biodegradable material from the outset, while using standard polyester production equipment for manufacturing, Kintra Fibers is seamlessly transforming the apparel industry to work in harmony with the planet.
Kintra has garnered interest from over 500 apparel brands and manufacturers, and has launched pilots to prototype their materials with global brands including Inditex, H&M, Bestseller, and Reformation.
Before Kintra, Billy served as a polymer scientist at the innovative 3D printing company Carbon, Inc., where he saw Carbon grow from 50 to 250 employees. An avid surfer, when not at the Kintra Fibers lab, you can catch Billy catching waves, even in the middle of New York winter storms, which he says are the best time to get out in the water.
Cali Noland
Eric Trachtenberg
Eric Trachtenberg is the Executive Director of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) where he provides strategic leadership to serve the cotton and textile community through promotion, knowledge sharing, innovation, partnerships, and by providing a forum for discussion of cotton issues of international significance.
Before coming to ICAC, he led design and oversight of more than $800 million in investments to improve food security, support agricultural transformation, and strengthen land productivity at the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). To date, 22 of MCC’s compacts have included food security-related investments totaling over $5 billion, including investments in improving land governance in over 15 countries.
His earlier background includes 15 years’ service with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) including diplomatic assignments in the Russian Federation, China, and Taiwan and founding the agricultural practice at McLarty Associates, a global strategic advisory firm.
He has Masters’ Degrees in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University, another in Public Administration from the University of Southern California, and Bachelors’ degrees in Government and Economics from Cornell University.
Lacy Cotter Vardeman
2023 PARTNERS
GOLD PARTNERS
Control Union
Website: https://www.controlunion.com/
Control Union has been helping to build a better world for several decades. From our roots in agriculture, we have since grown to become a global trustworthy partner for testing, inspection and certification (TIC), providing a comprehensive range of quality services to clients in more than 80 countries.
Our in-depth knowledge and experience cover all aspects of the supply chain, across a wide range of industries, including food, feed, energy, forestry, sustainability, social compliance, and textiles.
Thanks to our global network of offices, and our 5.000+ people, we are uniquely equipped to support businesses anywhere in the world, providing on-the-ground support and insight to assist partners with local challenges.
We are proud of our reputation as trusted experts acting with honesty and respect for people, society, and the environment. We prioritize integrity, safety, and transparency in everything we do, from our service to clients to our relationships with stakeholders, and from the development of our employees to the support we give the communities we work in.
Above all, we are committed to our mission to work with our clients, partners, stakeholders and employees to build a better tomorrow. Growing our future together, we are taking the next steps towards a more sustainable, more efficient and safer world.
Peterson
Website: https://www.onepeterson.com/service/projects-and-solutions-sustainability/
Peterson has been helping to build a better world for over 100 years. In 1920 Mr. Peterson started our company as a ‘graanfactor’, a service provider in quality and logistics in grain and feed, and today, over 100 years later, we have grown to become a trustworthy global partner for logistics, advisory, technology, and training. We now provide a comprehensive range of quality services to customers in over 80 countries.
Our in-depth knowledge and experience cover all aspects of the supply chain, across a wide range of industries, and cargo types. From oil and gas to renewable energy; from feed to regenerative agriculture and textiles.
Thanks to our global network of offices, and our 5,000+ people, we are uniquely placed to support businesses anywhere in the world, providing on-the-ground support and insight to assist our partners with local challenges that matter to them and the world around them.
EVENT PARTNERS
Aid by Trade Foundation
Website: https://www.aidbytrade.org/en/home/
AbTF is the umbrella organization under which the standards Cotton made in Africa® (CmiA), Cotton made in Africa Organic (CmiA Organic) and The Good Cashmere Standard® (GCS) are grouped. Each standard pursues its own goal with individual programs.
With regard to cotton, the organization looks back on 20 years of experience in promoting socially, ecologically and economically sustainable cultivation. AbTF works with around one million smallholders in eleven African countries. In fall 2023, AbtF will add requirements for a regenerative cotton cultivation to its suite of sustainable standards.
Aid by Trade Foundation
Website: https://www.aidbytrade.org/en/home/
AbTF is the umbrella organization under which the standards Cotton made in Africa® (CmiA), Cotton made in Africa Organic (CmiA Organic) and The Good Cashmere Standard® (GCS) are grouped. Each standard pursues its own goal with individual programs.
With regard to cotton, the organization looks back on 20 years of experience in promoting socially, ecologically and economically sustainable cultivation. AbTF works with around one million smallholders in eleven African countries. In fall 2023, AbtF will add requirements for a regenerative cotton cultivation to its suite of sustainable standards.
CottonConnect
Website: https://www.cottonconnect.org/
Please visit our website for more information.Cotton Incorporated
Website: https://www.cottoninc.com/
Cotton Incorporated is a not-for-profit company providing the resources and research needed to help companies develop and market superior, innovative and profitable cotton products. The company's efforts are focused across every area of the cotton life cycle from fiber through finished product.
International Cotton Advisory Committee
Website: https://icac.org/
Please visit our website for more information.KNOWLEDGE PARTNER
Fibre2Fashion
Website: https://www.fibre2fashion.com/
Fibre2Fashion has been a forerunner serving as a single-stop solution for the Textile-Apparel & Fashion industry, carving a niche for over 2 decades. With a strong global presence and widespread reach in the industry Fibre2Fashion is a world leader in facilitating businesses with critical & accurate industry information, innovative brand building solutions, market research insights for textile sector Fibre2Fashion is a name synonymous as ‘Knowledge Disseminator’ that delivers exactly what matters to the industry and businesses in the textile industry.
MEDIA PARTNERS
Continuum Ag
Website: https://continuum.ag/
Continuum Ag was started as an agricultural consulting company, with its agronomists supporting their farmers through services such as soil sampling and fertility recommendations. With a realization that traditional agronomic consulting only addresses the chemical soil component, Continuum Ag has differentiated itself by working with growers that take a more holistic approach and recognize that soil’s physical and biological aspects must be addressed.
Today, Continuum Ag operates by deploying its soil health-focused RightWay program on farms across the Midwest with a footprint throughout the country and as far away as South Africa. Additionally, the company has attracted the attention of numerous product manufacturers, who pay Continuum Ag to conduct third-party field trials of their agricultural products. In the process, Continuum Ag has collected one of the largest private collections of soil biological data.
Better Cotton
Website: https://www.bettercotton.org
Better Cotton is the world’s largest cotton sustainability programme. Our mission: to help cotton communities survive and thrive, while protecting and restoring the environment. In challenging times, we are meeting the challenge head on. In the 2020-21 cotton season, through our network of field-level partners, our programme reached 3.9 million people, and 2.9 million farmers in 26 countries received training on sustainable farming practices. A fifth of the world’s cotton is now grown under the Better Cotton Standard. We have united the industry’s stakeholders behind our efforts, from ginners and spinners to brand owners, civil society organisations and governments. Everyone who cares about cotton and its sustainable future can now be part of something better.
Fashion for Good
Website: https://fashionforgood.com/
Fashion for Good is the global platform for innovation.
At its core is the Global Innovation Programme that supports disruptive innovators on their journey to scale, providing hands-on project management, access to funding and expertise, and collaborations with brands and manufacturers to accelerate supply chain implementation.
To activate individuals and industry alike, Fashion for Good houses the world’s first interactive museum dedicated to sustainable fashion and innovation to inform and empower people from across the world and creates open-source resources to action change.
Fashion for Good’s programmes are supported by founding partner Laudes Foundation, co-founder William McDonough and corporate partners adidas, BESTSELLER, Burberry, C&A, CHANEL, Inditex, Kering, Levi Strauss & Co., Otto Group, Patagonia, PVH Corp., Reformation, Target and Zalando, and affiliate and regional partners Arvind Limited, Birla Cellulose, Norrøna, Pangaia, Paradise Textiles, Shahi Exports, Teijin Frontier, Vivobarefoot, Welspun and W. L. Gore & Associates.
Loop Closing
Website: https://www.loopclosing.com
Loop Closing places commercially available composting machines where dumpsters once stood providing a path to zero waste. Instead of hauling food waste “away,” we compost it on-site where it’s generated, thereby elevating the use of food from heading to landfill/incineration. Our innovation is deploying a decentralized network that inclusively regenerates our soils, communities, and planet. Similar to distributing personal computers, scaling computing capacity far beyond mainframe computers, distributing on-site composting can scale composting capacity beyond centralized recycling infrastructure. In the US, it’s stuck at a recycling rate of 6% without a path to meet ReFED goals of 23% by 2030. LC’s decentralized approach provides a path to meet and exceed the ReFED goal.
No Kill Magazine
Website: https://www.nokillmag.com/
We are an online publication operating from the idea that the future isn’t just a place we will go; it’s a place we will invent. We see the future as a place that is more equitable than the present and is renewing and regenerative as opposed to poisonous and destructive. We believe it’s up to all of this to make this happen.
No Kill Magazine was co-founded by KL Dunn and Katya Moorman.
Planet Aid
Website: https://www.planetaid.org/
Planet Aid is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that collects and recycles used clothing and
shoes to protect the environment, promote reuse, and support sustainable development in
communities in the U.S. and around the world.
Planet Aid operates in 17 U.S. states and has collected over 1.7 billion pounds of used clothing
and shoes since it was founded in 1997. The organization is a major contributor to the global
circular economy with a model that resells used textiles. Reselling provides opportunities to
aspiring entrepreneurs selling in their local marketplaces and produces more jobs in thrift
stores worldwide.
Funds raised by the resale of textiles help Planet Aid support community development projects
that promote sustainable agriculture in the U.S. Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
texfash
Website: texfash.com
The texfash.com project is a digital publication that explores the global textiles-apparel-fashion industry, straddling a line between journalistic reportage and academic rigour. The site has been founded by two journalists who together bring over 60 years of rich experience in reporting and writing about the environment, human rights, and of course textiles-fashion.
The Industry Fashion
Website: https://www.theindustry.fashion/
Please visit our website for more information.Think Regeneration
Website: www.ThinkRegeneration.com
Think Regeneration is 501(c)(3) nonprofit coalition of organizations, farmers, ranchers, scientists, researchers, and philanthropists who want to accelerate on-the-ground regenerative food supply projects. Our programs support projects that repair food-growing ecosystems, reverse trends in chronic disease rates, elevate the voices of regenerative growers, and build more community resilience.
PARTNER WITH US
Based on your objectives, we can create bespoke packages designed specifically for you. Opportunities predominantly lie in 3 main categories: Thought Leadership, Branding, and Networking.
Interested in a media partnership?
We'd love to hear from you and how we can support one another to connect with the industry. Contact [email protected]
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