More than just a story about plant-based fashion, The Nature of Fashion chronicles the plant stewards, obsessives, innovators and profiteers who have shaped what we wear. It is about the clash of worlds, voracious exploitation and silenced voices; about devotion, passion, blindness, idealism, greed and how clothing has separated us from nature.

Told through intimate vignettes into this past, each person, people group, plant and place is a thread in the fabric of the book, forging connections across place and time. And like weaving, as the story strands weave in and out, the pattern slowly emerges.

As the centuries unfold, we meet plants from every continent and understand the human stories of origin, culture and community. We see people and countries interact through trade, conflict, human and land exploitation and the age-old struggle for riches and power.

The stories of yesterday find their echoes in today. In every culture and every place, each plant is part of an ecosystem, and we see how the choices we once made shape landscapes and economies today.
Amidst human folly shine strands of hope and resilience, cultures that have maintained their textile traditions, human artistry that works in rhythm with the natural world and innovators who are finding new ways to produce fibres and dyes.

For thousands of years our clothes have been made by working with nature, not against it.  Fashion is at a turning point – to look forward, we need to look back.

“After reading Adam’s book, I won’t look at a handful of seed the same way again!”-Joe Swift, garden designer; writer; presenter, BBC’s Gardeners’ World

Across the world, chefs, farmers, plant scientists and backyard growers are doing something extraordinary: creating new generations of fruit, vegetables and cereals, all bred specifically to flourish locally, taste delicious, and contribute to our food future.

In The Accidental Seed Heroes, Adam Alexander dons his seed detective homburg to meet these twenty-first century seed heroes, who are not only championing traditional varieties but also breeding delicious new ones that will help create a sustainable future for our planet.

We don’t all need to become backyard breeders or even, like Adam, accidental ones. We don’t even need to eschew, as growers, the modern hybrid cultivars our seed catalogues are stuffed with or, as consumers, boycott those same uninspiring specimens that populate our supermarket shelves. Adam just wants that choice to be better informed and infinitely more diverse and enjoyable.

This story is a celebration of the locally and sustainably grown produce, whether traditional or innovative, that is at the heart of all our food cultures and empowers our rural communities and farmers. Adam believes these new varieties of fruits, vegetables and even grains will not just offer us all nutritious and delicious food but also be part of the solution to combating climate change and returning fertility to our soils and biodiversity to our land.