Every cotton t-shirt starts as a plant, but not every cotton t-shirt can end up as one. In an ideal world, that which comes out of the ground could safely return to it. Natural fibres such as cotton and linen could be broken down into valuable nutrients. But as grown fibres get processed into textiles they often get somehow modified - chemically finished, dyed and printed. The impacts of degrading these substances in compost are understudied and poorly understood.

Can we redefine this waste as a raw material? Starting from the end of the cycle Notgroundbreaking is sourcing obsolete, undyed textiles, such as hotel towels and linens, and, with the aid of 9 billion bacteria, fungi, worms, insects, and more, exploring an alternative where we could grow our way out of existing textile waste.