CLOTHING FOR A LIFE CLOSE TO THE EARTH

Ma Terre began with a question most of us never think to ask: what is my clothing actually made of? The actual material: the thread, the dye, the elastic, the button, and what each of them means for the body that wears them every single day.

I'm Kate, the founder of Ma Terre, and that question found me at university, in my third year of studying lingerie design. The deeper I looked, the harder it became to look away. Most clothing carries a quiet accumulation of synthetics and plastics: petroleum-derived elastic, polyester thread that sheds microplastic with every wash, details chosen for cost and convenience rather than care.

I didn't want to be part of the problem. I wanted to be part of the solution. So my final collection became my answer: couture lingerie designed to fully biodegrade. Organic peace silk. Cotton thread. An elastic the soil could take back. Pure silk lace that took months to find, because almost all lace in the world is synthetic. One nightgown I dyed with raspberries, and it came out the most delicate natural pink.

After university I burned out, and for a while I believed I might never return to fashion. Then came Bali: life slower and closer to the earth, and with it, the feeling that started everything. Ma Terre was born there. Ma Terre means "my earth" in French. We make womenswear from materials that love the body back: organic, thoughtfully chosen, from the outermost fabric to the smallest, most invisible thread. Everything we put into a garment is something we would want against our own skin. Because getting dressed can be a quiet act of love. For yourself. For the earth. For the body that carries you through this life.