If plants have shaped fashion's past, couldn't they hold the secret to its future? Vivid, celebratory, impassioned and angry, The Nature of Fashion is an epic sweep through the history of how we learned to create clothing with plants, revealing how textiles have transformed the human world and our natural landscape.
More than just a story about plant-based fashion, The Nature of Fashion chronicles the plant stewards, obsessives, innovators and profiteers who have shaped what we wear. It is about the clash of worlds, voracious exploitation and silenced voices; about devotion, passion, blindness, idealism, greed and how clothing has separated us from nature.
Told through intimate vignettes into this past, each person, people group, plant and place is a thread in the fabric of the book, forging connections across place and time. And like weaving, as the story strands weave in and out, the pattern slowly emerges.
As the centuries unfold, we meet plants from every continent and understand the human stories of origin, culture and community. We see people and countries interact through trade, conflict, human and land exploitation and the age-old struggle for riches and power.
The stories of yesterday find their echoes in today. In every culture and every place, each plant is part of an ecosystem, and we see how the choices we once made shape landscapes and economies today.
Amidst human folly shine strands of hope and resilience, cultures that have maintained their textile traditions, human artistry that works in rhythm with the natural world and innovators who are finding new ways to produce fibres and dyes.
For thousands of years our clothes have been made by working with nature, not against it. Fashion is at a turning point - to look forward, we need to look back.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
'From the Heart of the World, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the Kogui people thank Carry Somers for her important mission, which is intimately connected with our ancestral culture. More than her human self, we thank her great spirit for recognising her mission here in the physical world and for helping to spin, weave and remember the colourful consciousness of our still-living ancestry.'
MaMo Sintana and MaMo Isuama Kunchaluintana, Kogui spiritual leaders
'When I look at a piece of clothing, I see the seeds of its origins - the plants it was made from and the soil they were grown in. In The Nature of Fashion, Carry has dived deep into the origins of these textiles, telling us stories of craft and creativity as well as politics and exploitation, weaving the threads of fashion's past into uplifting hope for its future. More than a history of fashion, this is a fascinating unravelling of how fabric has shaped us and the world we live in.'
Arizona Muse, founder of DIRT, Earth activist and model
'As I watch the trees and plants grow around me, I see how we are intricately connected to nature. Carry captures these threads and weaves an absorbing story of how we first fashioned clothes from plants and how we might once again work closely with the natural world. Along the way, Carry crosses centuries and continents, revealing hidden stories of craft, creativity, science and innovation as well as trade and politics. An unmissable book.'
Adam Clayton, U2
'The Nature of Fashion is a lyrical reckoning of the roots of what we wear. Carry Somers traces the lineage of plant-based fibres with the precision of a researcher and the soul of a storyteller - unearthing histories often left out of fashion's mainstream narrative. What results is both a return and a roadmap: a vision of fashion that is not extractive but ecological, cultural and deeply alive.'
Aditi Mayer, climate storyteller, sustainable fashion advocate and founder of The Artisan Archive
'Masterfully weaving together history, anthropology and mythology, Carry bridges the realm between the ancient and modern, helping us to reimagine our relationships with our clothes. On every page, she reminds us how the textiles that adorn our bodies have the potential to connect us back to the earth and our ancestors, bringing us back into harmony with the living world.'
Nathalie Kelley Mallqui, Quechua storyteller
'This book is a delight. It draws together a marvellous tale of human invention in search of materials to clothe and sustain us and a rollicking ride of experimentation, colonialism and piracy. Carry raises thrilling questions about how techniques and materials now nearly extinct might be reimagined in a new world where technology can give nature a helping hand. The Nature of Fashion is both history and future in the same breath. I closed the book wondering which pages contained the seeds of a new future or a new fortune - I loved it.'
Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of The Lost Gardens of Heligan and the Eden Project
'Carry Somers' poetic and politically engaged prose is infused with a love and deep respect for Indigenous customs and centuries-old woman craft. Underpinned by both scholarly and historical research and chronologically mapped out from 41,000 bce to the current day, Carry's knowledge and storytelling empowers and spellbinds us. I am deeply moved.'
Caryn Franklin MBE, fashion and identity commentator
'Reading The Nature of Fashion reminded me of A History of the World in 100 Objects - the way a single material can open a window into centuries of human story. Carry Somers weaves history, the natural world and personal journey into a powerful reminder that what we wear connects us to the earth - or separates us from it. An urgent meditation on our material world, and a thoughtful guide for those seeking meaning in fashion.'
Nishanth Chopra, founder of Oshadi Collective
'Carry has woven a beautiful narrative about threads and the nature that provided them, from the very beginning of humankind. Her global stories illustrate how we are destroying our planet but also give us hope that nature will one day prevail, if we can learn the lessons it teaches us. Fashion is what clothes us and protects us, but it should not be something that leaves such a toxic trail behind us.'
Jane Shepherdson CBE, chair of My Wardrobe HQ
'The Nature of Fashion is a fascinating read, a real eye-opener. Now, every time I get dressed, I'm reminded of another story of where our clothes originated, dating back thousands of years. It's superbly researched, yet Carry Somers writes so beautifully, filling in the gaps and conjuring up the scenes for us. The history and politics of textiles has been turned into quite a page-turner!'
Joe Swift, garden designer, writer and broadcaster
'A tapestry of sciences from anthropology to archaeology, botany to biology, carpology to climate change. The Nature of Fashion is more than an understanding of sustainable fashion practices, it is a guidebook that postulates how fabric strung our history together and how it is directing our species' future.'
Dr Gabby Wild, National Geographic author, wildlife veterinarian and conservationist
'A fascinating read that delves into the roots of materials and the way they've been treasured by communities as well as exploited by colonisers around the world. People and plants have been interwoven since the beginning of time, but these relationships have been incredibly difficult to maintain as powerful forces have made it their mission to tear them apart, with dire consequences. Carry writes succinctly about this history while also highlighting the ways we can all turn the narrative around for the better.'
Amelia Windsor, fashion writer and creator
Carry is a globally recognised entrepreneur, activist, speaker and opinion leader, named by Business of Fashion as one of the key people shaping the global fashion industry. As co-founder of Fashion Revolution, the world's largest fashion activism movement with teams in over 90 countries, she has been instrumental in pressuring the industry to take responsibility for its social and environmental impacts.
Carry's award-winning fashion brand, Pachacuti, became a pioneer of radical supply chain transparency and the world's first Fair Trade Certified company. Since then, Carry has sailed from the Galapagos to Easter Island investigating microplastic pollution, collaborated on a show garden for RHS Chelsea Flower Show and appeared daily on the Nasdaq billboard in Times Square during New York Fashion Week 2022, which highlighted women-led social enterprises in the fashion industry driving social and environmental impact. Carry is lead consultant for The Good Clothes Show, which opened at the NEC Birmingham in September 2024.
A regular spokesperson in the media, Carry is a go-to commentator for the BBC and other media whenever there is a fashion news story. She has been interviewed on countless shows including NPR's Here and Now, BBC One's The One Show, Radio 4's Mary Portas On Style and the EU Delegation's official UK podcast, London Calling EU. In print, she has appeared in British Vogue, Vanity Fair, Financial Times How to Spend It, IRK Living At Home with an Icon cover article in February 2023, Vogue Portugal, Business of Fashion, Marie Claire France, Women's Wear Daily and many others.
