Clothing is filling our landfills. But what if it could fill the land with nutrients?
We’ve always designed with the earth in mind; organic, Fairtrade, plastic free. Now, we’ve fully closed our clothing loop, to help it thrive. With a world-leading project, Kowtow can now return garments to the earth as carbon-rich biochar, which helps to regenerate soil, capture carbon and foster biodiversity.
The story of biochar is one that involves leaning on community, starting with a conversation between friends that lead to one who works in agriculture mentioning biochar — a natural process they were using to enrich their soil — and curiosity sparked. “Could we do that with organic cotton?” we wondered.
We’d been searching for a way to return our end-of-life garments — 100% Fairtrade organic cotton, plastic-free, and well-worn with love — back to the earth. Not just recycled or repurposed, but truly regenerated.
A few months later, we were standing beside a steampunk-style kiln in the Akatarawa Valley, watching Kowtow garments turn into something entirely new: organic cotton biochar.
With help from Phil Stevens at the Biochar Network of New Zealand, Joany at The Good Carbon Farm, and Matt a farmer regenerating ex-forestry land up in the Akatarawa Valley; we transformed 160 kilograms of textile waste into 40 kilograms of biochar — a process that locks in carbon rather than releasing it.
This process bakes our end-of-life garments in a low-oxygen environment, locking in their carbon instead of releasing it. The result is a porous, carbon-rich material that helps soil hold nutrients and water. Biochar can enrich the soil, house microorganisms, and, in Joany’s words, performs “reverse mining” — putting carbon back where it belongs.
By unmaking what we’ve made, we close the loop — in a way that’s circular, carbon positive, and deeply science-based. Our biochar has been independently tested following the ANZBIG Code of Practice, confirming it can be safely returned to the soil without harm.
It means that when our Fairtrade organic cotton garments reach the end of their life, they don’t go to landfill. They become it — the clean kind. Landfill that’s good for the ground.
