WE ARE BECOMING — CÉLINE SEMAAN
You may have noticed the word "REGEN" popping up in the names of some of your OZMA favorites lately. Alongside trusted partners, we have been working to integrate regeneratively produced silk into our OZMA collections. Currently, our Classic Silk Noil & Silk Bandanas are sourced from farms following these practices and in the fall we'll be transitioning our beloved Raw Silk Tees Collection to Regen Silk as well (never fear: fit and feel will still be exactly the same).
In theory, this shift towards prioritizing regenerative agriculture practices is in keeping with our OZMA code of conduct: We work mindfully to bring beauty into the world with the most net-positive impact possible, continually integrating new ways to repurpose recycled materials and to create from a place of respect for nature’s finite resources.
In practice, Regen Silk production means starting at the fiber level, choosing textile partners that focus on creating circular, self-replenishing systems within the whole farm ecosystem, cultivating conditions where long-term, self-sustaining soil health is prioritized into the future. This can (and does) mean anything from 90% wastewater recirculation and reuse to introducing hungry birds onto planted terraces for simultaneous pest control and fertilization...and beyond. The result is: the same gorgeous silk we all love, but better for everyone/thing/where.
You may have also noticed the word "regenerative" popping up...literally everywhere else. For us, in the context of our production choices, it's pretty clear what it means, but it can mean many different things to many different people, each relevant to its own context. To demystify and expand on the power and possibility of regenerative tools for building better paths forward, we thought we'd ask one of our favorite thinkers, makers, and doers, Céline Semaan.
Founder of The Slow Factory (and its sister learning-space, the newly launched Slow Factory Institute), Céline is a designer, writer, parent, advocate, and general white-hot-burning-light of knowledge and power. Their work brings them to a fulcrum point of intersecting crises and opportunities: climate justice + social inequity, decolonization + rewriting of tradition, sustainable growth + self realization. And the medicine Céline gives us is this: a communal portal with access to the tools for learning and unlearning how to work towards addressing them, one choice at a time, for all.
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