Our Story
The fashion industry is dirty.
In fact, it is the second largest environmental polluter in the world and one of the worst when it comes to water pollution and carbon emissions.
85% of our clothes end up in landfills or get burned; including unused textiles and unsold items.
On average, each American dumps around 70 pounds of clothing each year…. and that’s only counting the US. To give you a glimpse into how big the global textile waste crisis is, imagine a garbage truck fully filled with clothes being thrown into landfills every second of the day... every year…..yikes!!
Lets face it. Recycling isn’t enough.
Synthetic fibers originating from fossil carbon make up 65% of the global fiber production.
The clothing we put on our skin is mostly made from plastic, and then dyed with chemicals that are hurting us and destroying our planet. Every time we wash our clothes made from synthetic fibers, we’re contributing to microplastic pollution. An estimated 2.2 million tons of microplastics enter our oceans annually just from washing clothes alone. Microplastics from our clothing are now making their way into our food, our drinking water, and our blood.
What we wear has a big impact and we are on a mission to create clothing that is truly good for the people and planet. If the fashion industry has the power to influence trends, then it also has the power to play a positive role.
What if I told you that your clothing could enrich soil health and help mitigate climate change?
Hello and welcome to Compost Clothes. I am a designer, gardener, soil advocate, and mother exploring regenerative clothing design utilizing organic natural fibers and dyes.
Ultimately, this collection grew out of my love and reverence for the Earth. I have been growing all my own dye plants for seven wonderful seasons now while researching natural dyes and plant based color within my local bio-regions of Marin (CA), Sonoma (CA) and Ashland (OR). As my love for wild and farm-to-fiber color deepened, so did my interest in exploring smarter clothing design.
I am now residing in beautiful Rhode Island where I’m continuing to explore the connection between “where” we live and what we “wear.” We are a small label and woman run business. Our clothes are all made-to-order to ensure that materials are not wasted. We don’t produce our clothing in a factory, but work within our local community where everything is sewn and dyed in-house. Our clothes are simple and pure; free from synthetics, and designed to be worn year after year as everyday essential pieces. We use materials that come from nature that can safely be returned back to the Earth.
I hope you love these pieces and wear them often. When you’re ready to let them go, simply bury them in your garden or add them to your compost pile.
Jennie Van Boven
“Your clothes are an agricultural act—by purchasing and wearing you are voting for the agriculture you do or don’t want to see in the world, and depending on how your clothes break down, you’re either feeding microbes, or you’re leaving a world of plastic pollution.”
Rebecca Burgess, Founder of Fibershed