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Aurae. The Future of Cotton

Check the labels of some of your favourite clothing pieces, and tell me you don’t own something made of cotton.

I would genuinely be surprised if you don’t find cotton, considering 75% of the world’s clothing products contain some quantity of cotton. And this makes sense, considering it’s fairly durable, comfy, and hypoallergenic. Not to mention it is also made from natural fibres, meaning it will (eventually) biodegrade.

Sounds amazing, right?

Wrong.

There are many flaws in the current method of cotton production.

There are two types of textile cotton: conventional cotton and organic cotton.

Conventional cotton is used by most fashion businesses, especially fast fashion brands, because it’s cheaper to produce and is genetically modified to produce around 25% more cotton than organic cotton. But the problem with conventional cotton is that it requires an absurd amount of water to manufacture/produce and this process takes up 2.5% of the planet’s arable land.

It takes 1 800 gallons of water just to grow enough cotton for a pair of jeans. Just imagine how many gallons of fresh water was used to manufacture your entire wardrobe…

Many companies have turned to organic cotton, which does have some benefits in terms of pesticide and chemical usage, but it actually requires more water than conventional cotton. For instance, just the manufacturing of an organic cotton t-shirt takes 2 500 L of water, whereas making a similar t-shirt out of conventional cotton takes 1 098 L. These figures are not taking into account the growing process of the cotton plant.

Ultimately, this results in detrimental environmental effects that contribute to the ever worsening global freshwater shortage.

In addition to this, growing cotton isn’t efficient when it comes to space, which not only wastes land that could be used for other types of agriculture, but also increases the human labor intensity. Cotton picking is an extremely tiring occupation as it is with the added hazards of overexposure to chemicals and pesticides that are linked to short term and long term health problems.

At Aurae, we believe in textile that is sustainable and stylish. Therefore, we make it our mission to create the perfect cotton textile and to innovate concerning the ways in which it is produced. Though we may seem like a textile company, we also consider ourselves a tech company that takes pride in our production process.

We guarantee 100% cellulosic products, meaning nothing is synthetic and everything is completely biodegradable.

Our perfect cotton textile starts off as it usually does: cotton plant DNA. But instead of just settling for your run-of-the-mill cotton, we extract this DNA and genetically modify it to have more desirable properties. This includes a texture that can be woven in a way that reduces garment wrinkles and shrinkage. Or a cotton that is lightweight, yet durable. The possibilities are endless!

Then, we take this modified DNA and insert it into specific bacteria using electric heat shock. Bacteria divide very quickly, so when they’re put into our lab’s petri dishes, the growth process takes very little time, allowing us to efficiently produce a large quantity of product.

While all of this is happening, we are also growing Arabidopsis thaliana (aka thale cress), which is a fast-growing weed known to be low maintenance and space-effective. We also genetically modify this plant with the FAS2 gene, stimulating its meristems to produce an increased number of stem cells.

We then take our bacteria and add them to our stem cells, essentially turning the thale cress plants into a genetically modified breed of cotton. This works because the bacteria contains our modified cotton genome. The thale cress stem cells take this DNA and adopt the traits of our cotton. Cool, right?

This whole process requires very little water compared to mainstream cotton farming, and takes place in labs instead of fields, allowing us to maximize the space and ensure consistent quality across each batch.

In order to accomplish our goals as a company, it is imperative that our team consists of likeminded people. At Aurae, we are a community where we are more than just coworkers; we are friends. Traditionally, mixing business with pleasure was said to be a big no-no, but everyone at Aurae has a deeper personal connection with each other.

When our business meetings are done for the day, we all stay on the call a little longer to just talk as friends. We tell each other about important things in our personal lives, whether it be the ups or the downs. And we support one another through it all.

We’ve all gotten to know everyone on a deeper level, to the point where calling them “co-workers” sounds too stiff. Like there was this one time when the guys had to leave early, so Jenny and I had a genuine conversation about our goals and the future. It was really refreshing to connect with someone at such a real and vulnerable level.

And this morning, I woke up to a notification from the Aurae iMessage group chat, and I unlocked my phone to see that Umar shared a funny TikTok. The fact that he thought to share it with us really showed how relevant we are to each other.

However, whenever friends are in the same company, it can lead to a lot of business conflict, especially if personal tension rises between them. That is why at Aurae, we all pledged to keep our commitment to the company as our biggest priority. Also, no matter what, we always treat other with respect and transparency. If an executive decision is made after a disagreement, no one takes it personally because everyone wants what’s best for the greater good.

We’re dedicated to changing the world, and committed to our future and sustainability — that never changes. Ever.

Any fashion fanatic knows that finding a balance between trendy and sustainable is a difficult. Finding items that are simply trendy is super easy — Forever 21, Brandy Melville, PacSun. Literally any fast fashion retailer.

1 point for convenience and low prices. -100 points for the low quality and the fact that it’s destroying our planet.

On the other side of the spectrum, there’s sustainable fashion. Everyone and every company has their own standards when it comes to sustainability, whether it be because of values or profitability.

Of course, you can skip the new stuff and check out a thrift store instead, but finding the exact styles you want may take a lot more digging. And even once you find something worth buying, you might need to tap into your creative side to “thrift flip” it.

Also, thrifting online, though gaining popularity, can be really difficult. You can’t try anything on and you can’t check for unsalvageable wear and tear. Especially when you consider situations like COVID-19 when clothing stores are closed, many people who would typically shop thrifted items would give into the fast fashion retailers that have an established ecommerce platform.

Personally, I try my best to shop sustainably, but sometimes I just can’t find what I’m looking for at Value Village or Plato’s Closet, and I go into an H&M.

When we choose fast fashion (or almost any other type of new clothing store for that matter), we choose garments that take thousands of litres of water to produce. We choose pieces that are made of unethically sourced materials. We choose clothes that are detrimental to our planet.

So that’s why we founded Aurae.

Once we perfect our process and are able to produce our cotton textile, we intend to launch a line of timelessly modern pieces. Ideally, we would be able to offer mid-range pricing because sustainable fashion should not break the bank.

We promise they will be some of your favourite wardrobe staples.

Hopefully, our genetically modified cotton fabric will gain enough popularity for us to license the genome to other companies interested in creating sustainable clothes or other textile products. Like wouldn’t it be exciting to walk into one of your favourite clothing stores, knowing they have environmentally friendly options?

With this as our end goal, eventually, our “perfect cotton” will be the norm in the textile industry.

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