🌱 Ep 29. Cotton, Soil & Solar: Re‑imagining the "Quiet King" of Textiles with Catherine Bottrill and Felix Bartlett (x Fashion District)

This is a special episode in partnership with Fashion District London.

In this episode of No Ordinary Cloth, we go back to where the cotton story truly begins: in the soil and in small farming communities. Mili is joined by Felix Bartlett, founder of Biothread, and Dr. Catherine Bottrill, co‑founder of ACE (Affordable Clean Environment) Cotton, to explore how regenerative farming, microbial science and clean energy can transform the future of the world’s favourite fibre.

Together they unpack the small and large scale cotton farming industry and ask what it would mean for cotton to become a force for regeneration: rebuilding soil health, cutting emissions and creating real wealth and dignity for the people who grow it.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why cotton is still the “quiet king” of textiles – beloved by the richest and the poorest, and deeply bound up with power, politics and identity.
• The difference between conventional, organic and regenerative cotton – and why “regenerative” is as much a process and pathway as an end state.
• How Biothread uses microbial consortia and field trials to reduce synthetic fertiliser use, improve yields and strengthen soil health in cotton systems.
• The social realities behind cotton: farmer debt, crop failure, climate volatility and why soil degradation sits at the heart of many of these crises.
• ACE Cotton’s village‑level model in South Asia – combining solar irrigation, clean household energy and biodiversity projects to support just decarbonisation.
• How brand decarbonisation targets, farm‑level emissions and smallholder energy access can be aligned so climate action also builds resilience and opportunity.
• The role of data, measurement and software in proving impact – from input reductions and yield changes to carbon, water and livelihoods metrics.
• Farmer trust, pilots and “show and tell”: what it takes to introduce new technologies and financing models into communities where risk is already high.
• Why cotton must be protected as the most widely used natural fibre if we are to avoid a fully synthetic future for fashion.
• The power of storytelling in shifting cotton from “cheap commodity” to living system – and how Felix and Catherine draw on their own backgrounds to do that work.

Pilio Group ACE Village

BioThread

Fashion District London

Books on the history of cotton explore its role as a global commodity that shaped modern capitalism, industrialisation, and imperialism

1. Empire of Cotton: A Global History : Sven Beckert
2. A History of the Cotton Industry : Anthony Burton
3. Cotton (Textiles that Changed the World) : Beverly Lemire

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Recommended listening:

Ep 25. Turning Agri Waste to Cellulose Fibre

Ep 14. Farm to Fibre

Cover art: Photo by Siora, Photography on Unsplash

Music: Inspired Ambient, Orchestraman