From Coffee to Clothing to.. ??
A sheep drinking and enjoying a cup of coffee
Learning About the Paths to Regeneration
We started with coffee. Then we moved to clothing and fashion. At Carom, we’ve been looking at how businesses across industries are beginning to move from extractive models toward regenerative ones.
Our case studies of Heirloom Coffee Roasters and Woolly Clothing show both the progress being made and the opportunities presented starting from where most companies stand today. Putting them side by side, they reveal a bigger picture: patterns across different industries, and that there’s translation work still needed to move from circularity toward true regeneration.
What They Share
Both companies are tackling some of the world’s most extractive sectors - coffee and fashion. And both are experimenting with circular practices that represent meaningful steps forward:
Heirloom Coffee: regenerative-organic sourcing through Pacayal, long-term farmer partnerships, electric roasting, compostable packaging, transparent shipping.
Woolly Clothing: renewable merino wool instead of synthetics, multiple certifications, plastic-free packaging, resale/recycling pathways, and a community they call the “Sheep Squad.”
These are not “business as usual.” Each reflects intentional choices to break away from linear, disposable logic.
Works-In-Progress
Yet both still stop short of being fully regenerative. For example:
Heirloom remains tied to global shipping and hasn’t fully reshaped North–South dynamics in coffee.
Woolly still relies on elastane for stretch, making circularity imperfect, and hasn’t yet embedded clothing in regenerative landscapes.
They’re important steps, but steps that remain largely in the circular zone rather than regenerative.
What This Teaches Us
This is where the deeper work of regeneration comes in. Regeneration isn’t a checklist of practices or certifications. It has its own grammar, a way of seeing and acting rooted in the living processes of our planet.
Both Heirloom and Woolly are learning pieces of that grammar. They’re proving that business can operate differently, but they haven’t yet learned to speak the full regenerative language.
That’s where Carom’s work comes in: translating the source code of regeneration into business innovation. The Regenerative Innovation Canvas helps us not just evaluate what companies are doing today, but imagine where they could evolve tomorrow - from incremental improvements to systemic renewal.
Why This Matters
Looked at individually, Heirloom and Woolly might be celebrated as “sustainable success stories.” And viewed through the canvas, we can start to see the patterns across industries: most companies are learning to close loops but still hesitate to open up to regeneration.
For Heirloom, regeneration could mean localized roasting, deeper co-creation with farmers, and shifting power in the coffee economy.
For Woolly, it could mean material innovation beyond synthetics, clothing connected to regenerative agriculture, and models that restore both land and culture.
The takeaway is clear: circularity is progress, but regeneration is transformation.
Looking Ahead
Coffee and clothing show us the promise and the limits of consumer products. But what happens when we apply the regenerative lens to the systems that finance them all?
That’s where we’re headed next. Our upcoming case study looks at Beneficial State Bank - a financial institution founded to serve communities and the planet. By placing a bank on the Regenerative Innovation Canvas, we’ll explore how regeneration isn’t just about products, but about redesigning the very flow of capital that underpins our economy.