Cotton — long celebrated as a trustworthy natural textile — is at the center of a quiet but consequential conversation unfolding across farms, factories and closets. As designers experiment with new blends, manufacturers refine processing methods, and consumers rethink what they want from everyday garments, one question keeps coming up: can cotton fiber continue to…

Municipal waste and discarded materials have moved from a background concern to a central topic in discussions about climate, urban planning and economic resilience. Around the world, existing disposal pathways often rely on methods that remove materials from productive cycles, creating environmental harm and losing economic value. At the same time, a growing set of…