We’ve uncovered a line of shirts made with TLC that are quite special … silk threads germinate and become designer eco t-shirts via Umbria, the green heart of Italy – a country renowned for its warm people, wonderful food and natural beauty … and now home to a unique line of sustainable eco luxe threads, Right As Rain, which just debuted online today.

Right As Rain creates one-of-kind tees, literally from the ground up, on their remote farm in Italy. The organic silk yarns are sourced in northern Italy, and the shirts are produced locally in Città della Pieve in Umbria. It is in these gently rolling hills where the shirts are – strange as it may sound – actually planted and eventually harvested. When I first read the press release I thought it was bizarre … I had to make contact with one of the partners to get my head around this new approach to a naturally-dyed, home-grown look.

the backstory: 31-year-old designer Francesco Mugnaini and 41-year-old Scottish organic farmer Sebastian Runde melded interests and expertise to figure out how to “grow shirts.” As Runde tells us:

“At the beginning was the idea to grow shirts, focus on a different aesthetic – that of nature itself. We experimented with different yarns: cotton, hemp, wool – however, only the best quality organic silk gave satisfactory results.

We designed the shirts first and had them produced locally here in town – a little hill town of 7000 inhabitants. I myself and the farm are however really out in the sticks.

Once finished, the shirts are planted in the ground and depending on the season, are ripe for harvest after two to three months.

Now we harvested 250 shirts, of which some were “matured” to go up for sale. However, the number of shirts depended on our funds more than production capacity, as the silk and also the craftsmanship is rather costly.

The shirts can be hand washed in cold water with natural soap. Each shirt comes in an eco-friendly box, accompanied by a little booklet of the shirts history and care instructions.”

As you can see, Mugnaini and Runde design and cultivate one of a kind sustainable threads based on what might be considered a cradle-to-grave-to-body creative approach … they can be yours for $425/each. find @ right-as-rain.com.

Related: Umbria - via LonelyPlanet.