About This Project
The conventional cotton used in fashion consumes 25% of insecticides worldwide, causing harm to ecological and social systems. This project explores how regenerative cotton might offer a different outcome. By observing and interviewing farmers in Egypt and the founders of a regeneratively designed fashion label manufactured in Egypt, this project aims to connect a global industry with local practices to sow seeds for shared solutions toward a more sustainable future.
Ask the Scientists
Join The DiscussionWhat is the context of this research?
More than half of the cotton produced worldwide is used in fashion. The fiber is sourced by designers for its durability and softness. As a result, I gained an adept knowledge of cotton, working for more than a decade to turn it into clothes and accessories that children and women want to wear. While this work helped me to successfully innovate fabrics and produce garments, it also showed me that the impact cotton has on people and the planet is not always taken into consideration.
Conventional farming requires a great deal of water and harsh chemicals to grow cotton, which is often cultivated through unfair labor practices. Regenerative farming challenges these practices. However, is it a worthwhile investment for the industry? Egypt, known for its high-quality cotton, may hold the key to finding out. This project unlocks how regenerative farming (and the application of regenerative cotton in fashion design) in Egypt is impacting ecological and social systems.
What is the significance of this project?
This project aims to collect data on cotton farms in the Nile Delta that are utilizing regenerative farming. It will also center the mission, vision, and values of a fashion label with an office in Cairo that extends the regenerative approach toward design. The research can determine if ecological and social systems, locally and globally, are improved by these practices. It will explain why or why not and offer recommendations for other fashion labels faced with mitigating the risks associated with conventional farming. Additionally, this project will culminate in an academic paper that is one chapter of a doctoral dissertation to be published on ProQuest and presented at the Ph.D. symposium at Prescott College.
What are the goals of the project?
The goal of this project is to understand any ecological and social improvements from regenerative cotton farming alongside its application in fashion.
The project will consist of ethnographic research using participant observations and interviews. Each participant - cotton, cotton farmers, and the two founders of a fashion label - will be engaged during a cotton harvest between (1) cotton farms in the Nile Delta or (2) an office in Cairo.
Data will be collected with a portable recording device as well as handwritten notes, reflexive journaling, and photos, and then use narrative analysis for documentation in an academic paper.
If fully funded, the project starts in September 2025 and ends in December 2025.
Note: Due to the participation of human subjects, approval from the Institutional Review Board at Prescott College is required for the project and has been granted.
Budget
To complete this project, funding is needed to support the following costs:
Airfare, Accommodations, and Food: Booking a round-trip flight to and from the United States and Egypt - with room and board - to conduct fieldwork for two weeks during the upcoming cotton harvest.
Translation and Transportation Services: Hiring a qualified translator and driver for two weeks to help translate between English and Egyptian Arabic and coordinate travel for conducting fieldwork.
Research Materials: Purchasing research equipment to include recording devices and data analytics tools.
Endorsed by
Project Timeline
The project is going to take approximately five months to complete. However, the research is to be conducted in two weeks. One week consists of fieldwork at cotton farms in the Nile Delta. One week at the fashion label office in Cairo. Six weeks are allocated for data analysis and compiling the findings into a published academic paper, all in collaboration with the dissertation committee.
Aug 18, 2025
Project Launched
Oct 18, 2025
Depart to Egypt
Oct 20, 2025
Conduct observations and interviews with local cotton farmers in the Nile Delta
Oct 22, 2025
Conduct observations and interviews with the founders of the fashion label in Cairo
Nov 05, 2025
Return to the United States
Meet the Team
JeLisa Marshall
JeLisa Marshall is the Co-Investigator for this project. As a Ph.D. Candidate at Prescott College, she is supported by a Principal Investigator - Kimberley Greeson, Ph.D. - who has a background in Conservation and Sustainability Education.
JeLisa has over 10 years of specialized work experience in marketing, product development, and social impact for fashion. In collaborating with a vast array of industry contributors from manufacturers to legislators, she has seen firsthand how climate change is worsened by the environmental and social injustices that pervade the global supply chain.
Her research investigates the often missed connections between culture and sustainability in fashion to foster equitable collaboration and more regenerative practices.
She holds a M.S. in Sustainable Fashion from Glasgow Caledonian New York College and a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Washington Tacoma.
Project Backers
- 15Backers
- 101%Funded
- $3,535Total Donations
- $235.67Average Donation