Earth Matters - Pineapple Shirting WK19

Earth Matters.

Earth matters is a regular window into everything that drives us at PANGAIA. From the motivation behind our latest material capsules and the impact that our innovations can make, to what inspires our restlessness in designing a more Earth-positive future.

Don't waste fruit, wear it

Our Pineapple Shirting capsule (which launched last week), is an example of how we’re continuing to explore and diversify our material inputs and relying less on a single commodity, like cotton, which can have a detrimental impact on the environment.  

By turning pineapple leaves leftover from the fruit production industry into fibers, which we then blend with rain-fed organic cotton, we’re repurposing waste into something useful.

The need to diversify material sourcing is one of the challenges we are meeting head on. Over demand and, in turn, an increase in supply can create unbalanced ecosystems. Native crops or food crops might not be grown if farmers are changing growing practices to meet the demands of the market.

This can also lead to monocropping, a practice of growing the same crop on the same plot of land, year after year, depleting the soil of nutrients and making the soil less productive over time, as well as causing significant erosion.

By diversifying our material needs through invention - whether pineapple fibers, nettle, hemp or the next originative material - we aim to reduce over-reliance on these over-farmed crops.

In the future, we can see that using by-products such as fruit fibers from other industries like farming, could offer great innovation potential, lessen our dependence on traditional crops and make waste into something worthwhile.

Earth Matters.

Earth matters is a regular window into everything that drives us at PANGAIA. From the motivation behind our latest material capsules and the impact that our innovations can make, to what inspires our restlessness in designing a more Earth-positive future.

Don't waste fruit, wear it

Our Pineapple Shirting capsule (which launched last week), is an example of how we’re continuing to explore and diversify our material inputs and relying less on a single commodity, like cotton, which can have a detrimental impact on the environment.  

By turning pineapple leaves leftover from the fruit production industry into fibers, which we then blend with rain-fed organic cotton, we’re repurposing waste into something useful.

The need to diversify material sourcing is one of the challenges we are meeting head on. Over demand and, in turn, an increase in supply can create unbalanced ecosystems. Native crops or food crops might not be grown if farmers are changing growing practices to meet the demands of the market.

This can also lead to monocropping, a practice of growing the same crop on the same plot of land, year after year, depleting the soil of nutrients and making the soil less productive over time, as well as causing significant erosion.

By diversifying our material needs through invention - whether pineapple fibers, nettle, hemp or the next originative material - we aim to reduce over-reliance on these over-farmed crops.

In the future, we can see that using by-products such as fruit fibers from other industries like farming, could offer great innovation potential, lessen our dependence on traditional crops and make waste into something worthwhile.

We can't live without bees

It’s World Bee Day on May 20th, a chance for us to remind ourselves how vital pollinators are to our planet—almost 90% of wild plants and 75% of leading global crops depend on them. However, over the past two decades, bee colonies have been vanishing. Referred to as ‘colony collapse disorder’, in some regions up to 90% of bees have disappeared.

This year, we’ll be signal boosting—and donating—to our Bee The Change fund, which supports grassroots NGOs working to preserve and protect bee species worldwide from extinction. The fund supports a variety of conservation projects, including the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in the UK, which is leading the reintroduction of bee species to the UK by working with farmers, conservation groups and other landowners to create flower-rich habitats within the release area. The short-haired bumblebee which they will reintroduce was last seen in 1988 and declared extinct in 2000.

The fund also supports the Milgis Trust which runs a beekeeping program together with indigenous groups in Northern Kenya. They use sustainable beekeeping methods and develop marketable products to enhance the beekeepers’ livelihood, supplying equipment and training for hive management.

In 2021, we donated over $30,000 from our retail partnerships, pop ups and internal sample sales to our Bee The Change fund.

We can all be a friend to the bees. Whether you have a garden or a window box, create a bee sanctuary of your own by planting flowers beloved by bees to provide them with nectar from March to October. They love traditional cottage garden flowers and wildflowers, like primrose, buddleia, and marigolds.

We can't live without bees

It’s World Bee Day on May 20th, a chance for us to remind ourselves how vital pollinators are to our planet—almost 90% of wild plants and 75% of leading global crops depend on them. However, over the past two decades, bee colonies have been vanishing. Referred to as ‘colony collapse disorder’, in some regions up to 90% of bees have disappeared.

This year, we’ll be signal boosting—and donating—to our Bee The Change fund, which supports grassroots NGOs working to preserve and protect bee species worldwide from extinction. The fund supports a variety of conservation projects, including the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in the UK, which is leading the reintroduction of bee species to the UK by working with farmers, conservation groups and other landowners to create flower-rich habitats within the release area. The short-haired bumblebee which they will reintroduce was last seen in 1988 and declared extinct in 2000.

The fund also supports the Milgis Trust which runs a beekeeping program together with indigenous groups in Northern Kenya. They use sustainable beekeeping methods and develop marketable products to enhance the beekeepers’ livelihood, supplying equipment and training for hive management.

In 2021, we donated over $30,000 from our retail partnerships, pop ups and internal sample sales to our Bee The Change fund.

We can all be a friend to the bees. Whether you have a garden or a window box, create a bee sanctuary of your own by planting flowers beloved by bees to provide them with nectar from March to October. They love traditional cottage garden flowers and wildflowers, like primrose, buddleia, and marigolds.

Watch. Read. Listen.

The first blood moon lunar eclipse of the year.

On May 15-16 (depending on your time zone), the Moon will pass into the Earth’s shadow, and turn a deep shade of red. View the phenomenon from your backyard, or with NASA via YouTube livestream.

‘We are the Earth.’ by Sônia Guajajara and Célia Xakriabá.

This letter was written by Indigenous activists from Brazil, Sônia Guajajara and Célia Xakriabá as part of the Barbican London’s latest exhibition Our Time on Earth, which explores ways in which we can live on the planet without destroying its ecosystems.

Natural Histories: Bee.

In honor of World Bee Day, we relistened to BBC Radio 4’s Natural Histories: Bee podcast episode. With bee populations in decline around the world, Natural Histories talks to those trying to address the ecological problems affecting our precious pollinators.

Watch. Read. Listen.

The first blood moon lunar eclipse of the year.

On May 15-16 (depending on your time zone), the Moon will pass into the Earth’s shadow, and turn a deep shade of red. View the phenomenon from your backyard, or with NASA via YouTube livestream.

‘We are the Earth.’ by Sônia Guajajara and Célia Xakriabá.

This letter was written by Indigenous activists from Brazil, Sônia Guajajara and Célia Xakriabá as part of the Barbican London’s latest exhibition Our Time on Earth, which explores ways in which we can live on the planet without destroying its ecosystems.

Natural Histories: Bee.

In honor of World Bee Day, we relistened to BBC Radio 4’s Natural Histories: Bee podcast episode. With bee populations in decline around the world, Natural Histories talks to those trying to address the ecological problems affecting our precious pollinators.