Fast fashion is one of the most polluting industries in the world. We need sustainable fashion now more than ever, which is where small businesses like Bedstraw and Madder are trying to make a difference. By farming their own cotton with regenerative practices, dying fabric using natural plant dyes, and selling directly to the consumer, Bedstraw and Madder curate the entire product journey to ensure every step is sustainable.
Being a clothing brand that blends regenerative farming practices in India with sales in the UK, Bedstraw and Madder are an interesting client whose initiatives in agriculture and sustainability made them a good candidate for UK R&D claims. We were able to help them achieve the optimum benefit, which they could reinvest back into the business.
Agriculture isn’t just about producing food. Our clothes also rely on agriculture as many natural fibres come from harvested crops like cotton or linen. You’ve probably heard about the environmental impact of both fast fashion and certain farming practices, but it’s also possible for clothing production to be sustainable. Bedstraw and Madder, a female-led company based in the UK with cotton farms in south India, specialises in sustainable underwear production, with a vision to take fashion and farming in a more ethical direction.
“We are a plant dyed regenerative underwear brand selling direct to the consumer,” says Primrose Matheson, co-founder of Bedstraw and Madder, “We started with underwear because this is your most intimate item of clothing, the clothing you spend the whole day in with it touching your skin.”
Primrose is a naturopath, so she wanted to create a healthier product to wear, as the skin is one of the body’s largest organs and absorbs what it touches. Along with co-founder Vanessa Barker, Primrose wanted to create clean, healthy clothing with benefits. Applying the same philosophy that many have embraced towards organic food, but in this case with clothing.
But Bedstraw and Madder’s philosophy doesn’t just stop at what’s good for your skin. After working in the fashion industry for 15 years, Vanessa saw the issues plaguing the industry first-hand on an environmental and social level.
“The fashion industry is currently a dirty business,” says Vanessa, “It is the second-largest polluting industry after fossil fuels. 20% of water pollution is caused by the chemicals used in processing textiles. Not only are those chemicals bad for the environment, but they are also detrimental to our health.”
Together, Primrose and Vanessa wanted to make an impact by creating clothing that does good and with a carbon positive effect. Bedstraw and Madder returns to the ancient wisdom of plant dyes and natural fibres, by working with nature rather than against it. And none of it is out of reach for the average consumer. Bedstraw and Madder go about this by selling their products directly.
“Selling directly to the consumer allows us to make ethical and sustainable underwear more accessible because it is more affordable,” concludes Primrose, “Our basic plant-dyed underwear is £11 a pair.”
Bedstraw and Madder set up shop in 2018. As a relatively new business handling a clothing business in the UK and engaged in regenerative farming in south India, Bedstraw and Madder had not thought about claiming until we approached their business. “We hadn’t claimed with anyone else, the business had only just been created,” shares Primrose.
Granter found out about Bedstraw and Madder’s business at a sustainability event. We wanted to work with them as we found their business highly innovative, especially in the way they develop their products. We were especially impressed by how they guarantee that their products are fully sustainable by ensuring farming, textile manufacturing, and sales are all done in-house.
“This makes them a great candidate for R&D tax credits,” says Ben, our head of consulting, “Although they are a small company, we wanted to support this type of business as our values align with theirs.” There were other aspects of their business that intrigued our team. Not only how their business functions, but also we wanted to support a business led by women.
“It’s great working with and supporting female-led companies, especially from the startup stage and seeing their business grow each year,” says Nas, the CEO of Granter.
We really believed in everything that Bedstraw and Madder stand for, and admired their business strategy, so we wanted to do a bit to help them grow and thrive.
Bedstraw and Madder were different from the clients we had before, so it was a new area in consulting. They are not a classic agriculture client as they also manufacture and sell undergarments, and the agriculture side handles their raw materials.
This made them an interesting client, but the farm-to-wear model posed a few challenges. The challenging part of the claim was ensuring that we were claiming upon every step of the process. Their business and production process stretches across many sectors and countries. As they had a farm in India, we had to make sure that the costs of this venture flowed through UK accounts, and they needed to pay UK tax on those activities. But having a farm in India didn’t hinder the claim; in fact, it was the opposite. The farm work in India was a large part of the claim and bolstered their position in being innovative within sustainable fashion.
“We made sure that we assigned expert consultants who had industry specific knowledge in sustainable fashion, farming, and finance,” says Ben, “These consultants were always available and worked around the client to ensure that the process was smooth, efficient and effective. This enabled the company to attain the benefit they deserved whilst minimising the time taken to claim.”
Once we had the system set up, Bedstraw and Madder found the claims process ran smoothly. “The process is straightforward once you understand it, and it’s not too time-consuming,” adds Primrose. She found the best thing about working with our team was our “availability and happiness to explain and help with any questions quickly and efficiently.”
We were happy to support them and make a successful claim; despite their business being a small one, the results were effective.
Granter helped Bedstraw and Madder claim thousands of pounds back from their tax claim, which they could reinvest back into their business. “They have allowed us to lease further land to grow regenerative organic cotton which actively helps mitigate climate change through the sequestering of carbon back into the soil as well as working on R&D,” concludes Primrose. She adds their company would recommend Granter to a colleague for our efficiency and helpfulness throughout the process.
We were very happy that the claim resulted in the optimum benefit for the client. We found the client was also happy with the process and was able to invest the money into further innovative ventures to improve their current products.
“The biggest takeaway for us was a deeper understanding of the challenges in sustainable fashion, for both startups and large established companies in the wider market,” says Ben, “Conventional polyester elastic is not biodegradable so developing a pair of sustainable underwear using natural rubber elastic that is has been a fantastic development within the industry, and Bedstraw were responsible for the early use of of this.”
If you’re a company working in agriculture or R&D in any of our other industries, and you are uncertain about how to make tax claims for your company, then we can help you navigate the claims process. See how much you can claim with our benefit calculator or contact us today to find out how you can claim money back for your R&D projects.
