Premium denim brand Citizens of Humanity commits to regenerative cotton

Denim apparel group, Citizens of Humanity announced a long-term partnership with regenerative agriculture pioneer Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA) and regenerative advocacy group Kiss the Ground Foundation (the source of the critically acclaimed Kiss the Ground Film, available on Netflix), in order to work with farmers to grow cotton sustainably.

In order to provide cotton that consumers can trust, the Citizens of Humanity Group and its family of brands, Citizens of Humanity, AGOLDE, and GOLDSIGN, will launch Kiss the Ground Cotton as part of their fall 2023 collections and beyond.

Year over year, the market demand for regenerative agriculture is rising to unprecedented heights. The global regenerative agriculture market was forecast to be worth $7.74 billion in 2021 and is anticipated to reach more than $24 billion in 2030, with an estimated compound annual growth rate of 14.4%, according to research from Polaris Market Research. One of the problems restricting the category’s potential growth is “lack of understanding among customers regarding the benefits of regenerative agriculture,” according to the same report.

This collaboration aims to raise public knowledge of the numerous advantages that regenerative agriculture offers to farmers, businesses, consumers, and everyone in between.

The initiative will enable farmers in the program to grow regenerative cotton and benefit from healthier soils with year-over-year improvements by leveraging AEA’s leading methods, products, and services.

Eric Girdler, Chief Operating Officer of AEA, said that partnerships and initiatives like these assist regenerative farms in marketing their crops and delivering the high-quality goods that consumers want. In addition to collaborating with farmers directly, they think it’s critical to raise consumer awareness of products made from regenerative agriculture. More regeneratively generated materials will enter the supply chain and eventually reach customers as a result of the transition to regenerative agriculture, which is well under way.

Manufacturing and distributing crop nutritional supplements and biological inoculants, as well as offering science-based programs that enable growers to test rather than guess on their journey into regenerative agriculture, are all services offered by the team at AEA, the business that provides growers with the well-known “Regenerative Agriculture Podcast.” Growers and their businesses may become more resilient, effective, and profitable with the help of these data-driven programs and 1:1 human support.

AEA Founder John Kempf, said that regenerative agriculture, in my opinion, has a remarkable capacity to rebuild more than just soil health. This method of agriculture offers the chance to rejuvenate ecosystems, public health, and rural landscapes. The fact that Kiss the Ground and Citizens of Humanity are not merely putting the burden of creating healthy supply chains on farmers is what they value most about working with them. Instead, by directing the financial benefits of better land management into the countryside, they are taking on responsibility alongside their grower partners. However, it’s also about healthier supply chains that build capacity for better rural stewardship. This tale is undoubtedly about healthier soils and healthier products for consumers.

The Citizens of Humanity team has acquired more than 1 million pounds of cotton from just one harvest season, which will be utilized to make more than 700,000 goods. For the planting season in the spring of 2023, the program is expanding to include more regenerative farmers in the US and Turkey.

Jason Hobson, CEO of AEA, said that they are thrilled to join with Citizens of Humanity, Kiss the Ground, and their cotton suppliers to continue accelerating the adoption of regenerative agricultural approaches. Driving economic benefits for farmers is the key to enabling value-responsible expansion throughout the agriculture supply chain, as our team at AEA has consistently shown. They have observed this in the produce sections of supermarkets and are eager to bring this reality to the racks and shelves in clothing stores.

It’s difficult to throw a stone in the business world without hitting on the need for sustainability or regenerative supply chains, given the mounting evidence of the harmful health effects of subpar product quality, growing worries about climate change and resource depletion, as well as the mounting economic challenges farmers face.

AEA Director of Sales, Kish Johnson, said that implementation presents a barrier for the majority of businesses and farmers. The desire has been there for many on both sides of this wall, but the entry obstacles have seemed insurmountable. They look forward to overcoming that obstacle through their relationship and demonstrating that regenerative agriculture yields not only comparable profits to traditional farming but also unlocks unprecedented benefits throughout the entire product supply chain.