For us, trust is the foundation of our operations
Materra designs scalable solutions to grow and source climate-resilient, transparent, and equitable cotton for fashion brands, farmers, and the planet. Co-founded in 2019 by Edward Brial, Edward Hill and John Bertolaso, the company’s mission is to make farmers stewards of the land, give nature a voice, and make cotton a force for good. Materra’s innovative approach and technology ensure supply chain transparency and sustainability. Speaking to Fibre2Fashion, CSO Edward Hill discusses hydroponic cotton, regenerative cotton, and growing premium cotton.
What are the most promising innovations in sustainable cotton farming, and how are they transforming the industry?
One of the most promising innovations in sustainable cotton farming is the development of new seed varieties. About 20 years ago, India introduced GM cotton, which has since dominated the market. Recently, however, there has been a shift towards non-GMO seeds and stable varieties—seeds that farmers can store and reuse each year.
We have been in discussions with breeders and academics in India who are researching stable seed varieties. These seeds are more climate-resilient, pest-resistant, and have been traditionally grown in India for many years. Because these seeds are saved and reused each year, they adapt to local environments.
We are excited about the potential of these ancient Indian varieties of cotton. If they can better adapt to climate change and resist pests, they could significantly benefit the industry. This shift back to traditional, climate-resilient seed varieties represents a significant innovation in sustainable cotton farming, helping to reduce dependency on chemical inputs and improving overall environmental impact.
How can fashion brands effectively integrate regenerative agriculture practices into their supply chains?
The first point is engagement. Many brands do not spin the cotton or make the fabric themselves, so they need to ask their supply chain partners to make the necessary changes. Beyond basic certification, we encourage brands to engage deeply with their supply chain. This means brands need to communicate their vision and goals to mills and spinners, asking them to adopt regenerative practices.
Brands play a crucial role because they are the buyers and hold significant influence. When they express a desire for change, the rest of the supply chain usually follows suit. Brands need to be brave and push the industry towards sustainable practices. However, they also need to be willing to accept increased prices. Change is not free, and to make it equitable, brands must be prepared to pay for the improvements they seek.
What inspired you to start Materra and what gap in the cotton industry are you aiming to fill?
The company started over five years ago when we were based in the UK. At the time, there was a figure being circulated by the WWF: it takes 20,000 litres of water to produce a pair of jeans. This number was surprising to us, and it sparked our interest in sustainability within the fashion industry.
I had been working in the agritech space, specifically in hydroponics, and along with Ed (EdwardBrial), we had the idea while working for a previous company in Kenya. We saw that heavy infrastructure could be installed in challenging locations. We thought, “What if you combine hydroponics, which can save up to 90 per cent of water, with cotton?” That was the beginning.
In 2018, in a hack space in the UK, we grew three cotton plants hydroponically. That was the starting point of Materra. We are still developing hydroponic cotton, but we are also working in regenerative cotton.
The gap we aim to fill is the application of technology. Many organisations in this space are non-profits, which is fantastic, but we wanted to see if a for-profit model could provide scalable solutions in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia. Being a for-profit company keeps us honest and ensures we provide value throughout the supply chain. This approach has guided our journey from the start.
Can you elaborate on how Materra’s regenerative cotton farming methods benefit both the environment and the local farming communities?
Regenerative farming is a global movement, but it is crucial to understand that it is context-specific, meaning it varies depending on the location. At Materra, we focus on three core principles: restoring biodiversity, reducing resource usage, and raising farmer livelihoods. These three ‘R’s’ form the foundation of our approach.
In simpler terms, we aim to eliminate chemical inputs from farms and replace them with biological inputs that farmers can produce themselves or purchase from local suppliers. We also move away from monocropping—traditionally, cotton is planted as a single crop throughout the farm. Instead, we encourage the adoption of multi-cropping and poly-crop systems while leaving space for nature to reintegrate into the farm environment.
Regarding farmer livelihoods, we believe farmers are the backbone of the supply chain, providing essential goods like food and clothing. Unfortunately, they are often undervalued. As a farmer-first company, we believe farmers should be respected and compensated fairly for their crucial work.
To support this, we negotiate multi-year offtake agreements with brands, ensuring long-term commitment to farming communities. We started with two-year agreements and have just signed our first five-year offtake agreement, which provides farmers with the security they need when making changes. Additionally, we implement outcome incentives—an extra percentage above the market rate paid to farmers by the brand, depending on the outcomes they achieve. This incentive compensates farmers for their exceptional work, and Materra does not take a cut from these payments.
How does your ‘Cotton-As-A-Service’ model work, and what advantages does it offer to fashion brands?
Our ‘Cotton-As-A-Service’ model addresses the common challenge many brands face: limited knowledge of their supply chain. Brands often operate at the spinning or fabric level, and their goals for sourcing, environmental, or social initiatives do not always translate through the supply chain. Many brands do not have teams based in key regions, like India, and lack local language skills, such as Hindi or Gujarati.
With Cotton-As-A-Service, we collaborate with brands to set specific goals, whether they aim to achieve significant social impact, increase biodiversity, or meet their cotton sourcing needs. We take their objectives and find a suitable community to support, integrating this cotton into their supply chain.
As a service provider, we handle the entire process—from setting goals and finding communities to providing technical and translational support. Brands receive cotton along with the added value of environmental and social benefits, without the need to manage the complexities themselves. This approach allows brands to focus on their core business while we ensure their sourcing aligns with their values and goals.
What are some of the key challenges you have faced in implementing sustainable practices in cotton farming, and how have you overcome them?
One of the biggest challenges we have faced is the dislocation and lack of traceability in the cotton supply chain. Cotton is a traded commodity, and price is often the primary objective. When brands ask garment manufacturers to produce T-shirts, the specific requirements for cotton—such as sourcing from a specific location or meeting regenerative goals—are a relatively new concept.
Typically, brands tell fabric producers to find fabric that works, fabric producers tell yarn producers to find yarn that works, and yarn producers tell cotton producers to find cotton that works. This tiered approach means that responsibility for raw inputs rests with each tier. Fashion brands, which operate at the top, rarely interact with tier four, where raw cotton is produced.
To overcome this, we focus on advocacy, education, and handholding throughout the supply chain. We have an open-door policy and aim to build rather than point fingers. We involve innovation teams, sourcing teams, design teams, and even marketing teams in the process. We start with basic educational points, such as the fact that cotton takes six months to grow and has only one harvest per year. This foundational knowledge helps build confidence and encourages deeper questions and understanding.
Collaborations with brands like Mango have been instrumental. Their team has engaged across all departments to learn and understand what can be achieved and how our cotton can fit into their supply chain. This collaborative approach fosters a better understanding of sustainable practices and their implementation in the cotton industry.
Can you discuss the role of technology and AI in your operations, particularly in impact data collection and supply chain transparency?
Over the last few years, we have been developing our own web and mobile application called Co:Farm. This management software serves as both a farm diary and a comprehensive management tool. It allows farmers to record their daily activities, operations, and inputs, much like a diary. From this data, they can generate profit and loss statements, helping them manage their operations more effectively. For brands, this data communicates the actual impact of their sourcing practices.
Additionally, Co:Farm includes an advisory layer with a chat platform where farmers can send videos, pictures, or text messages to seek advice on field-related issues. This platform collects vast amounts of data, enabling us to provide support and solutions efficiently.
Internally, we are exploring AI and machine learning (ML) to enhance our support capabilities. Basic chatbots can connect farmers with our resource library, providing educational videos or alternative solutions to pesticides and fertilisers. On a more advanced level, we aim to use generative programme design. By analysing factors such as climate, soil, and the economic status of farmers, we can develop customised roadmaps.
Our goal over the next few years is to offer highly bespoke guidance through our application. We want to provide advice tailored to the specific conditions of each farmer’s field at any given point in the year. This approach ensures that our support is meaningful and directly applicable to the individual needs of each farmer, moving beyond generic solutions to truly personalised assistance.
What partnerships have been crucial for Materra’s success, and how do these collaborations enhance your mission?
We have had three types of crucial partnerships: pilot partnerships, investor partnerships, and offtake partners.
Pilot partnerships have been invaluable because these involved brands willing to support our ideas financially or with other resources, helping us move forward. These pilots were essential in demonstrating the viability of our concepts.
Investor partnerships are also critical, as we are a startup Successful pilots often attract investors, creating a cycle where better pilot outcomes lead to more investment, allowing us to undertake larger and more ambitious projects.
Offtake agreements are the next level of partnership. For instance, we have a significant offtake agreement with Mango, as well as collaborations with smaller brands like Ecoalf, a Spanish brand, and LESTRANGE, a British brand. These agreements move us from pilot projects to commercial, legally binding commitments, ensuring that our products reach the market.
These partnerships help us scale our operations and provide a proven track record to other brands, encouraging them to consider similar commitments. As more brands see the success and industry approval of our initiatives, it creates a trend, fostering wider adoption of our sustainable practices.
How do you ensure compliance with global sustainability and consumer laws in the fashion industry?
From an accreditation perspective, we have RegenAgri certification as our baseline. This certification ensures that certain practices, such as the removal of specific chemicals and fair labour practices, are adhered to. However, we aim to achieve much more with our farmers in terms of regenerative outcomes. While certifications set the minimum standards, we strive to exceed these guidelines and demonstrate that our farmers can achieve higher standards.
Outcome incentives are key for us. We believe that farmers can achieve more if they are fairly compensated for their efforts. In addition to certifications, we have strong social auditing practices. For example, in cotton picking, we provide clear education to farming communities about forced labour, child labour, and other unacceptable practices. If any such practices are found, the farmer is immediately removed from the programme. We invest heavily in capacity building to ensure that these standards are understood and upheld.
We also run additional capacity-building sessions, especially during harvest season, to ensure that farmers have the necessary resources and financial stability to meet their obligations without resorting to unacceptable practices. Our approach is to work collaboratively with farmers, understanding their financial and local labour market conditions, and building trust. For us, trust is the foundation of our operations. Without it, certifications and guidelines lose their value.
Ultimately, we aim to build a strong, trust-based relationship with our farmers, ensuring compliance with global sustainability and consumer laws while fostering a supportive and fair working environment.
Could you share about your future plans for hydroponic cotton and how it differs from traditional cotton farming?
We have been piloting hydroponic cotton for the past five years with partners such as Fashion for Good, Kering, PVH, Arvind, and H&M Group. Both pilots are nearing completion, and we are excited to launch our first commercial farms next year. Here is how we envision hydroponics fitting into the global cotton ecosystem:
Firstly, from a land perspective, hydroponics allows us to reclaim and rejuvenate completely degraded or desertified land. These are areas where traditional farming is no longer viable due to financial or climatic reasons. By focusing on such lands, we aim to restore and regenerate them, making them productive again. We specifically target lands that have been abandoned or heavily polluted, rather than taking over healthy fields.
Secondly, we are concentrating on growing premium cotton known as extra-long staple (ELS) cotton. India currently has a high demand for ELS cotton but almost no domestic supply, relying heavily on imports from countries like the US. By producing ELS cotton locally, we can meet the needs of our supply chain partners and reduce shipping costs. Additionally, this aligns with India’s push for vertical integration within its supply chain and the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
How do you measure and communicate the impact of your initiatives to stakeholders, and what has been the feedback so far?
Through our Co:Farm platform, we collect profit and loss statements and environmental data from all our farmers. This allows us to perform detailed analyses on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and water usage. We currently use a platform called Cool Farm Tool, a global, paid service that supports various agricultural crops and enables us to conduct mini life cycle assessments (LCAs) either for cotton from 1 gin or for individual farmers.
From the brands’ perspective, they are excited about the granular data we can provide, which is often not available through traditional methods. This data links back to how we design our programmes. By measuring and assessing the impact, we create a feedback loop: collect data, measure, assess, redesign, and implement changes. This iterative process helps us prove and guide change effectively.
At Materra, we believe that data needs to have a purpose. It should either prove change or guide change. Collecting data just to have it in a spreadsheet does not benefit anyone. Our approach ensures that the data we collect is actionable and meaningful, driving improvements and demonstrating impact to our stakeholders. The feedback has been very positive, with brands appreciating the transparency and the ability to see tangible results from our initiatives.
Do you have any advice for startups in the sustainable fashion industry to help them avoid common pitfalls?
Firstly, I feel very blessed to have co-founded Materra with two other founders. Having a supportive team early on is incredibly beneficial for maintaining energy, happiness, and sanity. It is crucial to find a team that you can trust and that aligns with your values.
Next, try to find champions within brands as early as possible. Many people in sustainability and innovation teams are actively looking for solutions. If you approach them with an idea, they might get excited and become strong supporters of your venture. Building relationships with these champions can provide stability and patience during challenging times.
Lastly, do not be afraid to approach brands even if you think you do not have enough to show. We started by showing just one boll of cotton we had grown, and that was enough to pique interest. Be a bit naive and let others say no if needed—do not dismiss your own potential. You might be surprised at how impressed people can be with even small achievements.
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