At Eileen Fisher, I traveled to organic cotton farms, interviewed factory owners and created messaging that unpacked the textile industry’s huge global impacts—for internal teams and customers alike.
Regenerative Wool: Clothes that Fight Climate Change
By herding sheep in patterns that mimic nature, holistic farmers in Argentina are restoring biodiversity, sequestering carbon, and enriching the soil of 1.2 million acres of dry, brittle grasslands. I was part of a video team that documented the work of an innovative Savory Institute Hub.
Organic Cotton: Changing the Way Clothes Are Made
Twenty years ago, New Mexico farmer Dosi Alvarez grew cotton like 99% of the world—with a barn full of chemicals. He’d get soaked by herbicides when hoses failed. His soil was so depleted he relied on synthetic fertilizer. When his son was born, he decided to go organic. One acre at a time, Dosi learned to plant cover crops, fertilize with compost and cultivate beneficial bugs. “My father helped,” he recalls. “He’d farmed this land before the chemical companies came in.”
Women in Environmental Justice
Around the globe, women tend to rivers, trees and ecosystems but seldom have a seat at the table when decisions are made. I reported on seven groups who are shifting that equation, as part of Eileen Fisher’s grants for Women in Environmental Justice. Pictured: International Rivers, dedicated to keeping the world’s rivers wild, clean and free.
Made in L.A.: Rescuing a Family Factory
When his parents’ textile factory hit hard times, Bobby Ahn quit his dental practice and learned to make organic cotton jeans—in Los Angeles. Labor is his biggest cost; strict U.S. pollution standards make his work more difficult than outsourcing to Asia or Mexico. “Most Americans think jeans should be cheap, which means they often can’t be produced in the U.S.,” he says.
The Afterlife of Clothes
The average American throws out 70 pounds of clothing every year. A staggering 85% ends up in a landfill. I researched why you should recycle everything, even if it’s worn and torn. Organizations like Goodwill can only use 20% of their donations. The rest is sent to professional recyclers who resell 45% to secondhand clothing dealers, primarily in foreign markets. Another 30% is cut up for the rags or wipes are used by bartenders etc; 20% are shredded for carpet padding, acoustic tiles, denim insulation and more. Only 5% is waste. Do a background check on clothing bins in your town—reputable recyclers follow Goodwill’s model.
Amy Hall: The Bumpy Path to the High Road
Amy Hall, Eileen Fisher’s director of Social Consciousness, spends a lot of her time in what she calls “the gray zone.” It’s a place that shouldn’t include human trafficking—but might. In her company’s supply chain, the most likely location is Prato, Italy. An ancient and walled city, Prato has a high concentration of Chinese immigrants. Some arrive legally, welcomed by factories and mills looking for cheap labor to produce “Made in Italy” garments. Others agree to pay a broker or “snakehead” an exorbitant fee to be smuggled in on a tourist visa—$10,000 according to an account in Businessweek. Once in Prato, workers find that they are trapped in foul sweatshops earning an average of $650 a month, struggling to pay their broker fees. “This kind of debt bondage can happen anyplace where there is cheap pay for hard work,” says Amy.