We hope the headline drew you in because we want as many people as possible to read about Kowtow landfill – soil supercharged with organic cotton biochar!
What the feck is biochar you ask, and how is that linked to fashion?
This week Kowtow announced that their garments – once they reach the end of their life – can now be transformed into organic biochar, returning to the earth as a regenerative force rather than waste.
This is a huge step for fashion-kind and a blueprint we hope other brands take inspiration from.
We’ve been following Kowtow’s experiments with its organic cotton biochar over the past few months – which has included growing healthy tomatoes at Kowtow HQ, Wellington – and so happy that the news can now be shared!
Biochar is a stable, carbon-rich material made by heating organic matter (like wood chips, crop waste, or manure) in a low-oxygen environment. Think of it as a specially produced charcoal designed for soil improvement and carbon storage.
Because Kowtow clothing is made from a single fibre – Fairtrade organic cotton – and completely free from plastic trims and hardware, the brand is uniquely placed to return its textiles to the earth in their entirety.
Kowtow’s organic biochar can be blended into nutrient-rich soil which means customers can quite literally put their clothing back into the ground.
The result: a closed-loop, carbon rich pathway for garments that can no longer be repaired or resold.
How it works
In collaboration with Carbon Options and The Good Carbon Farm, Kowtow is turning textile waste into carbon-rich biochar, a process that locks in carbon rather than releasing it into the atmosphere. The garments are placed in a low-oxygen drum and baked at 600 degrees – not burned – into their pure carbon form. The result is a porous, honeycomb-like material that performs “reverse mining”: putting carbon back into the soil, where it belongs.
Customers can be involved in this journey by returning their end-of-life garments to Kowtow who will then unmake the garment, recycle elements such as trims and buttons, and return it to the ground as biochar through their Regenerate programme.
Kowtow’s leadership in this space shows a pathway for how the textile industry can become both circular and also help with our planet’s much needed soil regeneration.
