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Fashion’s hidden footprint and how peatlands can help

Biopuff® by Ponda®

Liv Symes from materials science company Ponda® talks about the devastating impact that fast fashion is having on the planet, and how their innovative Biopuff® material is helping Lancashire Wildlife Trust rewet peatlands in the North West.

The fashion industry is leaving a deep and damaging mark on our planet. Waterways are polluted with toxic dyes and chemicals, natural resources are being depleted, and landfills are overflowing with discarded garments. Behind the glossy marketing lies a system built on overproduction, exploitation, and waste.

Behind every fabric lies one of the world’s most polluting industries. Fashion accounts for around 10% of global carbon emissions and uses more water than any sector except agriculture. Cotton fields demand vast irrigation, while polyester relies on fossil fuels. The result is an environmental footprint that is impossible to ignore.

With little transparency or legislation, many brands are not required to disclose where or how their clothes are made. This leaves consumers in the dark about the true cost of their wardrobes. Meanwhile, fast fashion continues to thrive. In the last decade alone, clothing consumption has increased by more than a third, driven by cheap, easily accessible online brands.

The impact is not just environmental. It is social and economic too. The fashion system depends on an extractive model that takes from both people and nature. Garments are produced in enormous volumes, sold cheaply, and discarded quickly, eroding ecosystems while offering little long-term value to communities.

A field of bulrushes

Bulrushes on a wetter farming trial - K Tyler

Yet, as always, nature holds the answers. Working with natural materials can help us rebalance this relationship, but only if done carefully. Poor harvesting or rushed innovation can easily harm the ecosystems we aim to protect. True sustainability requires expertise, patience, and a genuine commitment to regeneration.

A fluffy bulrush head

Bulrush head by Ponda®

A person crumbling white fluffy bulrush seeds in their hands

Fluffy bulrush seeds - credit Saltyco®

Ponda and what we do

Every stitch can tell a story, and with nature-led innovation, that story can be one of renewal. 

 

At Ponda, we believe the future of fashion lies in materials that work with nature, not against it. As a biomaterials company, we develop regenerative textiles that connect the restoration of ecosystems with the creation of responsible materials for the fashion industry. Our mission is simple: to empower brands to weave regeneration into every garment they make.

BioPuff - cream coloured fluffy padded textile

BioPuff® filling for padded jackets is made from bulrush seeds - credit Saltyco®

Our flagship innovation, BioPuff®, is cruelty-free, fully traceable from plant to puffer, and a powerful example of how science and sustainability can go hand in hand. We are proud to collaborate with pioneering brands including Stella McCartney, Parley for the Oceans, and Berghaus, helping them create products that perform brilliantly without compromising the planet.

Our partnership with Lancashire Wildlife Trust is a particularly exciting step. Typha, or bulrush thrives in rewetted peatlands - absorbing carbon, restoring biodiversity, and improving soil health, making it a perfect crop for the Trust's paludiculture (wetter farming) trial. The soft, lightweight fibres from its seed heads can be transformed into a versatile textile with huge potential for fashion and beyond. Unlike cotton or synthetics, bulrush requires no pesticides and grows abundantly in restored landscapes, offering both environmental and economic benefits.

By championing materials like bulrush and practices like paludiculture, we can reimagine fashion as a regenerative system, one that values ecosystems and communities as much as creativity and design.

Every stitch can tell a story, and with nature-led innovation, that story can be one of renewal.

Read more: Wetter farming

Learn more: Ponda

 

6 people wearing waders standing in a line

The Ponda team - Credit: Ponda

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