BioPuff, a new plant-based material manufactured by the startup Saltyco using reedmace - better known as bulrush - has a similar structure to feathers, providing warm, lightweight and water-resistant insulation, according to the firm.
About 20 bulrush heads are needed to make enough material for one jacket, and the first rushes are expected to be harvested from the UK site in 2026.
"The bulrush has an amazing high-volume structure," says Finlay Duncan, a co-founder of Saltyco.
"I've been farming this land for 35 years and have seen steadily declining yields and increasing difficulty finding a market for traditional crops," says Steve Denneny, who will be growing the bulrush crop on land owned by the Peel Group.
"Farming on lowland peat can be really difficult. It's not the most profitable farming." Ideas like the bulrush project could mean a lucrative "Win-win", says Longden.