One could argue that we really shouldn’t be bringing any new products into the world, based on where we’re at in the climate crisis. And overall, I don’t disagree. But I also believe we need to be realistic. People are still going to consume, and so we need to create better options.

Some companies are beginning to offer take-back programs (check out The Big Favorite for circular undergarment basics. They are doing some really cool stuff). Recycling garments in a closed-loop system is a great solution to the clothing waste crisis, but we still need more solutions. And that technology isn’t capable with of recycling all fabrics yet. It can also be costly to scale.

My “why” for creating a lingerie brand encompasses several elements, and one of them is acknowledging that undergarments will most always have a finite lifespan—and that there has to be a better way to create and dispose of items that are function based, and will eventually wear out.

In order to responsibly dispose of a garment, “end-of-life” must be considered in the beginning––the design phase. Petal + Ash is working on a wire free bra and panty, that will be safe to compost or go back into the ground...after a ton of wears of course! Natural decomposition (buried in soil) can potentially take a lot longer than getting thrown into the compost bin, and we want to know just how long. Our ultimate goal is to prove that our garments can be composted or buried in soil.

City living makes it a bit harder to claim some ground space, so our panty sample is buried in a planting pot, with lots of space and healthy soil. There are two different (all natural) components to our panty–main fabric and elastic. Each will have a different decomposition rate, and a few months are anticipated before things get going. External factors, such as weather and temperatures will also contribute to decomposition rate. It’s all an experiment!!

Stay tuned to see if we can prove our hypothesis! In the meantime, check out this cool video we made for our Instagram to kick off the decomposition test!

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