mud to marle - our project with country road climate fund
Full Circle Fibres, is beyond excited to be one of three inaugural projects funded by the Country Road Climate Fund, Australia’s first fashion industry climate fund.
Mud to Marle is an industry collaboration led by Full Circle Fibres, a B Corp certified social enterprise, alongside Deakin University and local fibre producers including Geelong Textiles; Ridgehaven, NSW (wool grower); and Australian Super Cotton, QLD (cotton grower).
We are beyond excited to be one of three inaugural projects funded by the Country Road Climate Fund, Australia’s first fashion industry climate fund.
Mud to Marle is an industry collaboration led by Full Circle Fibres, a B Corp certified social enterprise, alongside Deakin University and local fibre producers including Geelong Textiles; Ridgehaven, NSW (wool grower); and Australian Super Cotton, QLD (cotton grower).
Mud to Marle will focus on turning lower value wool fibre into a high value product by combining it with premium cotton. The project will pilot and test proof of concept end-to-end on-shore manufacturing, including spinning, knitting, weaving and dyeing in Australia.
Circularity and climate is central to this project, which in addition to using ‘lower value,’ wool fibres, will support local production and low impact production methods. The long-term aim of this project is to grow on-shore manufacturing capabilities and circular production systems within Australia.
The Climate Fund grant will see $147,000 of funding contribute towards production, including the sourcing of raw fibre, dyeing, spinning, knitting and weaving as well as sampling. Alongside this, we will be measuring and compiling detailed data on the water, energy and logistical footprint for the whole chain, in order to calculate the low footprint benefits of scaling systems like this. There is a lot of focus on calculating carbon footprints and just offsetting, and the risks with the validity offsets. These are mitigated by designing products and supply chains to massively reduce the need for them in the first place. So why not build low impact products, that last a long time, can be recycled, and can safely compost at end of life.
Projects like this don’t just spring up, Dr Chris Hurren and Meriel Chamberlin have known each other for years and frequently discussed so many ‘wouldn’t it be great if,’ project ideas we could do with the tools already under our noses, both local fibre and local capability, using our knowledge both technical and commercial of local and global textiles, and both already collaborate regularly with the team at Geelong Textiles, so as a group we were ‘ready to go.’ However, without funding, these ideas remain just that, that’s why this is so exciting.
The innovation in this project begins with the fibre selection, however it is just the beginning, every stage of the process is being engineered systemically, to be as low impact as possible, using current technology, nothing needs inventing. The opportunities are right here, and our natural advantages are globally unique, we look forward to showcasing them over the next year as we develop these products.
The Country Road climate fund is instrumental in our ability to run this trial and the lovely additional benefit is to work together creating pilot batches of cloth in conjunction with feedback from the design teams there, as whatever the footprint of a product, it must be something people want to enjoy, cherish and wear again and again if it’s really going to be part of industry change for good.
The fund also presents an opportunity to celebrate the world of social enterprise, as it specified that project leads must be social enterprises. We gained B-Corp certification last year, and we are active members of Queensland Social Enterprise Council, it’s lovely to shine a light on this growing community too.
Elle Roseby, managing director of Country Road, said the brand is excited to support the first year of Climate Fund grant recipients in driving positive change. “We believe that partnerships are key to tackling industry-wide challenges and driving deep, long-term change. We are thrilled to be able to support those driving innovation at the grassroots level, and look forward to working alongside the first three finalists.”
The long term outlook of this work is particularly exciting when combined with the other project Full Circle Fibres is working on, bringing Textile to Textile recycling back on shore. The technical capability being planned for the Fibre Foundry, would be able to scale the product being piloted in this project. Contact us if you’d like to find out more
