Prince William, Cate Blanchett Team Up to Highlight Sustainable Fashion

Prince William and Cate Blanchett are teaming up for a good cause.

On Thursday, June 19, the Prince of Wales and the Oscar-winner checked in on a company that’s helping build a more sustainable fashion industry.

Their outing came a day after William, 42, attended the Royal Ascot horse race meeting, without his wife Kate Middleton, 43. She had to pull out at the last minute, as she continues to manage her return to public-facing engagements during her recovery from cancer.

William and Blanchett were taken on a tour of Colorifix, in the city of Norwich, not far from William’s country home, Anmer Hall, in nearby Norfolk. The company has been hailed for its innovation by William’s environmental mission, the Earthshot Prize, for how it uses technology to create dyes naturally, and for the way in which is cuts down the vast quantities of water and harmful chemicals typically associated with dying.

Blanchett is one of the leadership team for the prize, which is William’s 10-year initiative to find solutions to some of the planet’s environmental problems.

Colorifix, which was a 2023 Earthshot Prize Finalist in the ‘Build a Waste Free World’ category, uses DNA sequencing and nature’s own beauty and color to make dyes. Since it was founded in 2016, Colorifix has partnered with fashion brands including H&M, Pangaia, and Vollebak.

William and the Lord of the Rings actress were shown step-by-step how Colorifix has perfected a process that identifies a color found naturally in the wild. DNA sequencing is then used to find color in the genetics of that organism, plant or animal and this is then taken to a dye house to grow the color by fermentation, cutting out the use for any petrochemicals.

The duo were also taken through how Colorifix identifies the DNA code that produces the pigment and how the innovative dye liquid is attached to the fabric. The process reportedly saves water, energy, and carbon emissions at each stage of the manufacturing process.

Since being a finalist and being enveloped in the Earthshot family, the company has been boosted with knowledge and experience that is helping it to grow and bring broader recognition.

Blanchett previously joined the prince and other prominent backers of Earthshot at the Prize’s third awards evening in Singapore in 2023. She also interviewed the heir to the throne for a podcast about being a “stubborn optimist,” and his aims with the decade-long project to find ways to correct the harm being done to the earth.

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“To coin [Costa Rican diplomat] Christiana Figueres’ phrase, ‘stubborn optimist’ — I think is sort of where I’m feeling quite like I’m at the moment,” he said at the time. “She’s given me a lot of hope that this can happen, and I believe I’m seeing it with my own eyes — it’s really inspiring, it’s really hopeful,”

The 2026 Earthshot Prize is taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in November.