There is a plant in the Philippine highlands that grows without pesticides, without irrigation, and without displacing food crops. For most of modern history, nobody thought of it as the future of fashion. Hannes and the team behind Bananatex did.

In this episode of ReFashion Workshop, I sit down with Hannes to talk about how a bag brand went looking for a better material and ended up helping invent one. What they found was Abacá, a banana plant native to the Philippines, tough enough to make a durable technical fabric and gentle enough to give back to the land it grows on.

Where it started

Bananatex did not begin as a materials science project. It began as a problem. The team behind the bag brand Qwstion wanted to stop relying on synthetic, petroleum-based fabrics, and they could not find anything on the market that met their standards. So they set out to build the material themselves.

That search led them to the Abacá plant. It grows in the highlands of the Philippines inside a natural forest ecosystem, needs no chemical treatment, and requires no additional water beyond what the environment already provides. It regenerates the land rather than draining it.

Why the material matters

Most fabrics ask something of the planet. Cotton drinks water. Polyester is oil in another form. Abacá is different. Hannes walks through how the plant restores soil, supports biodiversity, and gives local farming communities a crop that works with the forest instead of clearing it.

The result is a fabric that is fully biodegradable, strong enough for everyday use, and honest about what it is and where it comes from. When Bananatex says the material is regenerative, that is the actual math, not a slogan.

What we get into

Hannes and I talk about the long road from idea to finished textile, the choice to open-source the innovation so other brands could use it, and what it means to build a company around a material rather than a trend. We also get into the harder questions. What does real sustainability cost. Who pays for it. And whether the industry is ready to slow down enough to do this properly.

Thank you for being here.

— Courtney

Courtney Barriger is a founder, poet, and visual artist working at the intersection of fashion and the planet. She is the founder of Holding Court Inc., a made-to-order sustainable swimwear brand rated “Great” by Good On You and certified through GOTS, OEKO-TEX, GRS, and SEDEX. She also runs ReFashion Workshop, a brand and podcast devoted to upcycling and sustainable fashion education, where she talks with the people rethinking how clothing gets made, worn, and remade.

Her work as an artist reaches beyond fashion. A piece of her art is part of NASA’s Artemis mission. Across everything she builds, the through line is the same: create beautifully, live honestly, and leave the world better than she found it.

Follow along at ReFashion Workshop for new episodes, and subscribe to the newsletter for the stories behind each one.

On this episode of ReFashion Workshop, we have Casey Lum creator of the Fashion Wellness Revolution and the Wearing Joy Project. Rewriting the Rules of Style and Self-Worth. A confidence-boosting, wellness-driven approach to style that lasts far beyond the closet. Casey brings light to one of the most overlooked wellness tools hiding in plain sight: the closet. A morning ritual you return to every single day without ever realizing its power.

Through her signature Wear Joy Method, she introduces simple ways to transform the morning closet experience from draining and discouraging into energizing and focused, creating a ripple that carries women more confidently throughout the day. And the most surprising part... buying less is the gateway to becoming more.

Casey teaches audiences that if we can pause the cycle of consumption, we will discover better style, more joy, and infinite self-worth.

Fashion Wellness lives at the intersection of personal style and mental well-being, and it is a conversation women's conferences and wellness summits have been waiting for.

After women hear Casey speak, they will walk lighter in the world because she will give them simple methods to use their closet as a magic pathway to more joy, freedom, and self-love.

@WearJoyProject

Jimi Cohen has already broken one Guinness World Record — 30,469 mangroves planted by his own two hands in 24 hours on the coast of Kenya. Now Jimi Cohen, founder of TreeGens, is going after something almost too big to say out loud: one billion trees, planted in a single day, across fifteen countries, on July 26th.

In this episode, we get into how this historic day actually comes together, and how you or your company can be part of it. Jimi walks us through TreeGens' DAO, where the community — not a boardroom — helps steer the mission, and how carbon credits and TreeGens tokens let individuals and businesses fund real trees even if they can't get their own hands in the dirt on July 26th. Download the TreeGens app to track your impact, join the movement, and watch the trees you helped plant grow in real time.

This is a story about scale, yes. But it's also a story about what happens when one person decides "impossible" is just a number nobody's tried hard enough to move. Like the four-minute mile — but for the planet.

Listen and connect with Jimi Cohen & TreeGens: Website: treegens.org / treegens.com App: TreeGens (available on the App Store and Google Play) Instagram: instagram.com/thetreegens / instagram.com/jimicohen X (Twitter): x.com/jimicohen TikTok: tiktok.com/@treegens

Learn the power behind Lucid Dreaming and manifestation, and come back with real life tools on how to improve your journey into the unknown at night. This is a pre-recorded talk I gave many years ago when I was writing the draft of my latest book The Royal Robe - an eco fashion tale, and the implications are incredible for personal growth, and also for rewriting the subconscious script to become a better steward of the planet. While most of the time these days I am all about sustainable fashion, I am also a writer of fantasy and fiction, and I am developing a project right now that will cross the barrier of paper and will be seen on the big screen. And while I can’t speak too much about that right now, I want to give you all a little insight into how Lucid Dreaming is an instrumental tool in all of my written works - both as a subject matter and as a practitioner.

This episode of E.S.Now is going to be a little different. To honor an innovative and expansive collaboration spanning art and environmental regeneration, from the ocean to the moon, we are having an open conversation with the leaders of BitBasel art gallery who is sending a micro-engraved solid gold disc or artwork curated by, Refi Tulum blockchain and regeneration, onto a rocketship to the moon, literally. This is a conversation between the gallery owner, curators and some of the artists themselves as we reach touch the moon and save the oceans simultaneously.

The Ocean SDG 14 Collection focuses on “Life Below Water.” This collection will be exhibited during Miami Art Week and is part of BitBasel’s Lunar Mission—sending digital artworks to the moon as a timeless message of care for our planet. In this unusual episode, we are turning over the mic to Sandra Ponce De Leon of Refi-Tulum, to be the host. With special guests, co-founder of BitBasel Scarlett Aranared, and several of the participating artists that Sandra will introduce, including myself. This is a larger conversation about ocean conservation and the length of humanity's reach, that you will find absolutely fascinating. Let’s jump right in.

www.bitbasel.com

www.instagram.com/refitulum

Chemical toxins from apparel accumulate in your body, and overtime can cause hormonal changes, nerve damage or even cancer. In this two part conversation, DeAnna Batdorff, a 30 year practitioner of Ayurveda leads us through detox protocols for forever chemicals and microplastics. Have your notebooks ready.

And explore her upcoming classes at www.dhyanaessentials.com

DeAnna Batdorff, a Generation-X born and raised in California, is a wholistic health detective with over 30 years of experience as an Ayurvedic Practitioner, Lymphatic Massage Specialist, Nutrition Counselor, Western Herbalist, and Clinical Aromatherapist. She specializes in reading the pulse, spine, face, skin, and tongue as primary assessment tools. All of DeAnna’s teachings are rooted in her three foundational pillars: listen to self through symptoms, the right to take action, and ‘follow-through means feeling better.

Chemical toxins from apparel accumulate in your body, and overtime can cause hormonal changes, nerve damage or even cancer. In this two part conversation, DeAnna Batdorff, a 30 year practitioner of Ayurveda leads us through detox protocols for forever chemicals and microplastics. Have your notebooks ready.

And explore her upcoming classes at www.dhyanaessentials.com

DeAnna Batdorff, a Generation-X born and raised in California, is a wholistic health detective with over 30 years of experience as an Ayurvedic Practitioner, Lymphatic Massage Specialist, Nutrition Counselor, Western Herbalist, and Clinical Aromatherapist. She specializes in reading the pulse, spine, face, skin, and tongue as primary assessment tools. All of DeAnna’s teachings are rooted in her three foundational pillars: listen to self through symptoms, the right to take action, and ‘follow-through means feeling better.