More than textiles; a system.

In our second episode of our online webinar serie, Fashion Talks, we invited Niccy Kol, from Raddis Cotton to dive deep into the world of sustainable material sourcing. As a textile expert she has worked with Escada, Gerry Weber, the colourful Vlisco and even with the innovative Waste2Wear. Through the years the qualities of materials have changed considerably, which has inspired Niccy to take back the power of textiles.

Material sourcing is a crucial topic to discuss in the industry, as materials are the core and soul of the garments. During Niccy’s 30+ year journey through the fashion Industry, she has seen it all. More clearly she has seen the garments go from mono materials and high quality fabrics, to trading that all in for higher quantities at the lowest price. Niccy states that ‘’we got so much into creating the next new thing, that we over designed our qualities’’.

So what does Niccy propose? We need to go back to high quality mono materials and design from creativity, we have to re-learn the system. We are not going to design the next white t-shirt again, we have to design the complete system around that t-shirt. That means that when we are talking about sustainable sourcing, we are not talking just about the fiber or fabric, we mean that we need to be discussing the whole system. That sounds like a hard task, but at Raddis Cotton, they are already there.

Raddis Cotton created the Raddis®System, a farm impact subscription model which links your cotton demand in yarn, fabric and finished products to the assigned acres of farmland with organic “in-conversion” cotton cultivation. This enables you to create real progress, secure your growing organic cotton supply and share the authentic stories you made possible from “Farm to Fashion.”

After all cotton is the world’s number one natural resource for textiles, but unfortunately only 1% is grown organic. The rising demand for this 1% of organic cotton is causing huge price increases, bigger earnings for the middlemen, and a boosting fraudulent activities around certifications.

At Raddis Cotton they work with regenerative cotton, a form of cotton harvesting that creates not only healthier soils, but also involves the well being of the farmers and their families, and contributes to creating a transparent, measurable and sustainable industry.

It’s time to take a close look at the problems we’ve created in the Fashion Industry, and start to develop wholesome systemic solutions such as Raddis Cotton proposes. Just using Organic cotton does not make the cut, we need to go further than that and re-design the whole journey that a garment goes through.

To watch the full conversation with Niccy, click here. To learn more about Raddis Cotton, visit their website: raddiscotton.com

Fashion Talks is an open and free space for consumers, brands and manufacturers to talk about what’s happening in the fashion industry regarding sustainable sourcing, design, production, innovation, business and consumption. Every first Monday of the month we invite a professional who is changing the industry in a positive and inspiring way to talk with us on Instagram Live. Follow us on Instagram to join us in the next Fashion Talks.

‍