Citizens of Humanity is a Los Angeles denim-based company that is investing in regenerative agriculture. It markets jeans at roughly $200 a pair and is on a quest to curb its environmental footprint from its raw materials.
Agreed with six cotton farmers across the United States this year, it has partnered with six farms across the United States, to buy cotton at a premium, to enable the farmers to use the additional income for more sustainable-farming methods. They are motivated to minimize tilling and chemical fertilizers. The company hopes that next year’s harvest from these six farms would yield cotton for producing half a million pairs of its jeans next year. The brand is committed to marketing its jeans at their regular price, without a markup.
The Citizens of Humanity which owns AGOLDE and Goldsign brands has triggered a movement in the fashion industry to encourage practices that preserve the soil’s health and reduce carbon emissions. Renowned fashion brands like Kering luxury group, Patagonia, and Levi’s, have also invested in large-scale regenerative agriculture projects in Europe and Asia. Smaller brands are also partnering with farmers in Asia to buy regeneratively grown cotton. Christy Dawn, for instance, has partnered with Indian farms for this purpose.
The regenerative cotton idea was triggered by the devastation that climate change is causing the world over. Fashion apparel that generates 4 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions is a major. Most of these emissions happen in the production of raw materials and manufacturing. Brands must know what is happening at these stages to reduce the carbon footprint on their products.
The awakening about the emission impact of apparel started late though scientists and environmental activists have since long been urging to revisit industrial farming methods, like tilling, and using chemical fertilizers, and pesticides. These practices destroy the soil and release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
