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b"Sustainable sourcing begins with raw materials. Experts agree that a \\u201csustainable materials mix\\u201d should be a priority for the fashion industry because they can reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, pare back water and carbon footprints and pose less of a burden at the end of their lives. But what makes a material sustainable? And should we look to the past or the future for answers?\\n\\nIn this episode, Sourcing Journal reporter Jasmin Malik Chua speaks with Rebecca Burgess, executive director, and Jason Kibbey, CEO of Higg Co., about how novel materials such as synthetic spider silk derived from yeast stack up against agricultural systems both conventional and \\u201cregenerative.\\u201d\\n\\n\\u201cI would say we\\u2019re at the very earliest phase of this and few of the new, interesting and exciting materials have come to scale,\\u201d Kibbey said. \\u201cBut we also have to support innovation and try to find these new materials that do reduce impact, and do allow us to give optionality in a changing world.\\u201d\\n\\nBurgess cautions, however, that the current regulatory system is ill-suited to managing the growth of synthetic biology and its waste streams. \\u201cI think...we have is a history of launching things into our biosphere, without having measurement frameworks or scientific analysis about potential impacts to dynamic ecosystem function,\\u201d she said. \\u201cSo I have concerns and I'm not the only one.\\u201d\\n\\nRegenerative agriculture, she explains, increases soil fertility and biodiversity, helps with sequestration of atmospheric carbon and helps the land \\u201cself-renew without synthetic inputs...just the magic of biology.\\u201d\\n\\nKibbey agrees that a balance between old and new is necessary to clothe the people of the future. \\u201cIt\\u2019s very important that we both have to support innovation and support new ways to look at clothing...but we also have to be very careful of the unintended consequences of those materials as we develop them...and carefully try to understand and reduce or ideally eliminate those unintended consequences.\\u201d\\n\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices"