At Land to Market, we see “field work” as integral to our momentum in building a global supply chain that connects farmers and processors with fashion and food brands. And as a remote team, traveling gives us the opportunity to be deeply collaborative while we are cultivating our global network.
In June and July, Megan, Wyatt and I took a multi-city trip that started at West Bijou, the Savory Institute Ranch and ended in Paris. Our trip to Europe catalyzed many relationships and gave us tools to work more efficiently with our partners. We are so grateful to our brand members and supply chain partners who connected with us during our trade show tour. In the global, remote business age, face-to-face meetings are so valuable and meaningful to our team.
WEST BIJOU RANCH
At the end of June we invited our Land to Market members to the 7,500 acre West Bijou Ranch near Denver, to meet in person and learn first-hand about the power of regenerating grasslands through Holistic Management. Our guests included ranchers, supply chain processors, Ecological Outcome Verification field specialists, Savory Institute and Land to Market team members, retail partners, investors, brand partners, and media.
Some of the most impactful aspects of the event were getting our brand members out onto the land to see what regeneration means on the ground level. In this historic drought year in the Front Range of Colorado, it was powerful to learn how holistic management practices are building resilience.
Our brand members provide the demand that the Land to Market program needs to continue building supply - thank you for strengthening the regenerative movement with us.
LONDON
The Land to Market team poured the dirt out our boots and headed to London for FUTURE FABRICS EXPO presented by The Sustainable Angle.
In addition to hosting a booth on the expo floor to share more about the value of regenerative agriculture in material sourcing, we came away with key trends from the event:
- Fostering a circular fashion ecosystem: this concept was presented in the context of recycled materials but runs parallel to holistic management and regenerative agriculture - circulating biological materials into the soil to build ecological and economic resilience.
- A focus on measurement of sustainability claims: with a myriad of statements being made about carbon neutrality, emissions, and water, we didn't find a cohesive system that spoke for land health. The Ecological Outcome Verification protocol is a clear standout in putting data behind claims. This differentiation fostered dozens of powerful conversations at the event and showcased that animal products - fiber and hides - are part of the solution for fashion brand’s to address climate change and biodiversity loss.
We were honored to have Megan speak on the panel, UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE. The panel was moderated by Dr Helen Crowley and featured several key voices in addition to Megan including:
Simon Whitmarsh-Knight HD WOOL
Cate Havstad-Casad RANGE REVOLUTION / CASAD FAMILY FARMS
Sheila Cooke 3LM SAVORY INSTITUTE HUB
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“We at HD Wool see the wool system in the UK as being broken. We stand by working directly with farmers here in the UK and trying to pay farmers a fair price for their wool. The wool over time has become commoditized, which is ridiculous, it is the original performance fiber. Farmers are getting less and less for their fiber. But by working directly with them we aim to support farmers in moving into regenerative agriculture practices.” Simon Whitmarsh-Knight HD WOOL
“In 2014 I watched Allan Savory’s TED Talk on how to re-green the desert and reverse climate change. This showed me that we need livestock in the mitigation of climate change. The day after watching that video with Allan Savoy, I applied to be a hub with the Savory Institute. We are working with farmers to help them learn how to manage holistically so they are regenerating soil and improving their economic situation.” Sheila Cooke 3LM SAVORY INSTITUTE HUB
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“The bag project, Range Revolution, is somewhat of a Trojan horse to get into certain environments to talk to people about regenerative agriculture, which is where my heart lies. When I set out to build a bag, I wanted to find a leather source that aligned with the rest of my ethos, that was regeneratively produced. As soon as I dove into sourcing, I learned that most of the hides coming from mid-sized family ranches in the US, are thrown into the trash. The supply chain aggregation just doesn't work on the midsized level. I decided to work on healing that design flaw. I am working on bringing more of those ranchers into the EOV program and showing them that there is a huge demand in the fashion industry for these hides that come with data of regeneration on the land.” Cate Havstad-Casad RANGE REVOLUTION / CASAD FAMILY FARMS
“One of our big focuses this year is creating turnkey solutions so that we can really accelerate this movement and have this update of the materials. While we are here in Europe we are meeting with suppliers and processors like tanneries, yarn spinners, fabric makers who are very values-aligned with us and want to join our ecosystem by becoming Land to Market members.” Megan Meiklejohn, SVP Supply Chain Innovation, Land to Market
FLORENCE
The Land to Market team touched down in Florence ready to talk about yarn but only after multiple espressos. The Pitti Immagine Filati show was a beautiful confluence of animal fibers and luxury, a growing area of the Land to Market program.
We were excited to see our friends from Textile Exchange and BKB discuss animal welfare and how regenerative agriculture plays a key role in the larger picture.
Animal Welfare Panel presentation: the resilient supply chain of animal fiber production
An international workshop organized by Confindustria Toscana Nord dedicated to animal fiber production and collective actions to ensure animal welfare, traceability of production, and transparency towards consumers.
- Lindsay Humphreys of our wool supply chain partner BKB in South Africa spoke on the value of Land to Market for the ranchers in the BKB network.
- Bronwyn Botha of Textile Exchange, an organization of which we are members indicated that soil health, biodiversity, and water are pillars for TE’s Climate+ 2030 Vision
PARIS
Wyatt and I learned that this was Megan's first time in Paris so we took plenty of time to get to know the city in between meeting with brands and attending the Premiere Vision event - the final stop on our trade show tour.
PV hosted 1000+ international exhibitors specializing in a wide range of materials, sourcing and supply chain services. Here is what stood out to us:
- Textile Trend: Quality + Individuality + Creativity. This translates directly into the work of Land to Market to bring raw materials from verified regenerative land bases to support brands in differentiating their products in the marketplace while allowing farmers to be creative in their approach to holistically managing their land and animals.
- Takeaway: we saw an incredible opportunity to cut through the noise of sustainability that was omnipresent at this large expo through steering the positioning back to ecosystem regeneration.
GRASSLANDS: GLOBAL FASHION EDITION
Traveling across oceans and timezones to talk about what grass has to do with wool and leather and why it matters, is at the core of what our fashion field work is about. It feels like a reverse engineering of globalization to connect fashion brands directly to farmers, and that is exactly what we are doing.
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