Mother's Closet Climate Beneficial Cotton Shirtdress uses C4 cotton to create a feathweight experience of wearing your caregivers' clothing as a very young child. Collaborating with the sensual and material authenticity, Herderin seeks to build a sustainable and regenerative wardrobe.
C4 is a coalition of companies who currently sell cotton goods and are working pre-competitively from farm to fabric (or soil to skin), to invest in learning how to grow Climate Beneficial(TM) cotton in the unique Californian bioregion. This group was founded on the premise of working together, pre-competitively, to create a structure for investing in regionally grown, Climate Beneficial(TM) cotton that catalyzes critically important shifts in land stewardship and prioritizes working with domestic milling partners.
C4 is a relationship building project where farmers, merchant and gin operators, researchers, farm technical service advisors, nonprofit organizers, family foundation funders, brands, designers, textile developers, spinners, and textile mills are working together to bring a new agronomic and textile development system forward that is generating natural material goods for the marketplace. By working together, risk is shared by all partners, which is critical to implementing innovative practices on-farm, in the mill, and in the development of new goods. Brands that are sometimes competitors in the marketplace have come together with stakeholders to support soil health focused transitions in our food and cotton growing landscapes. Cotton supply stakeholders are normally not in communication as textile development traditionally happens, with brands purchasing fabric from a contract manufacturer who has purchased yarn from a spinner (another contract manufacturer) who has purchased cotton from a merchant. This allows for little-to-no transparency back to the farm. C4 is working in the opposite direction: farm-forward.
Through the coalition, brands are sourcing farm-forward from acreage that has been managed using conventional practices and chemical inputs which is now undergoing a transition to biological, soil building, and climate beneficial practices. Acreage involved in this project is managed by two farms: Bowles Farming Company in Los Banos, CA and Stone Land Company in Stratford, CA. Both sites are being monitored for a range of soil health indicators. Bowles Farming Company is collaborating on a site specific three year research trial with Chico State University’s Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems.
The project goals are to rebuild soil carbon stocks, increase the soil’s capacity to hold water, and significantly reduce synthetic inputs. The research and learnings from this project can create a roadmap for the additional 187,000 acres currently growing cotton in California.
Available in Plant-dyed Sappanwood
Cut and sewn in San Rafael, California in our studio, located in the hills of San Rafael, California. Each garment is made with care and intention with minimal waste.
Sewpure™, GOTS certified, organic cotton thread.
Maeve is 5'8 wearing O/S
