70% of all materials today are made from fossil fuels. We use more fossil fuels to make clothes than we do to send rockets to space. But what if we made materials from biowaste instead of fossil fuels? At Rethread Africa we are making the next generation of biomaterials for the fashion, automotive, and footwear industries. Today, we work with smallholder farmers to turn sugarcane bagasse, a byproduct of the world's largest crop by production volume into a new material that is softer than natural fibers, stronger than existing biobased iterations, and more sustainable than plastic-based synthetics. The best part? These textiles are recyclable up to 6 times and will naturally decompose if discarded.

Pick any random village across the continent and chances are that the poorest people in this community are smallholder farmers. This community is throwing away a third of their crops in value every harvest season. At the same time, we use more fossil fuels to make clothes than we do to send rockets to space every year. Polyester, which accounts for 70% of the materials used is expensive to produce within the continent, it is harmful to our environment because they are essentially plastics and is holding back our fashion industry from coming of age economically.