The fashion bizz gets a tough enough time (and rightly so) for being one of the world’s most-polluting industries. Add in the fact that the most prevalent material in our clothes is also one of the worst culprits in polluting the planet and you can see why cotton is currently public enemy #1.
But why is the fluffy cotton crop so bad for the planet? And what can we do about it? GLAMOUR spoke to Charlotte Turner, Head of Sustainable Fashion & Textiles at sustainability and communications consultancy Eco-Age to get the low-down.
Cotton has such a bad reputation because it’s one of the most-used fibres in the world (the other is polyester) so the crop puts a mega strain onto resources. After food, cotton is Sainsbury’s biggest raw ingredient and it needs vast amounts of land, water, herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers to grow. “These risky chemicals can find their way into waterways as pollution and are hazardous to farmers’ health.” Organic cotton is a better choice as it uses less water in production. “Organic also means that restricted chemicals haven’t been used in the process and there is a chain of custody.”
And when an industry employs an estimated 300million people, guaranteeing working conditions is a huge task. “Protecting the people who make our clothes is a big issue in the cotton industry, particularly considering all the chemicals that go into the crop. There are also very high rates of farmer suicides in the Indian cotton industry, which are related to mounting debt and chemical reliance. If you think about crops that need insecticides and pesticides, eventually the insects develop tolerance, meaning you have to buy more chemicals. We are also seeing soil fertility decline because of monoculture (where one crop is grown on the same patch of land again and again) so you need more fertilisers and we’re seeing farmers get into huge levels of debt because of this.”
It’s not as simple as just stopping buying cotton though. “Cotton is a really high quality, durable fabric. What we should be doing with the cotton garments in our wardrobe is making them last as long as possible. Cotton takes dye really well so if you have a faded cotton garment, you can dye it to freshen it up. There now commercially produced dyes which are made with lower environmental impact. Maintain and mend your clothes and if you really no longer want to keep them, try a clothes swap.” Try to also choose 100% cotton garments. Recycling fibres that have been woven with synthetics is tough so pure materials will be easier to recycle at their end of life.
And when you do need to buy something? “Be aware. Ask brands how they source their cotton and watch the True Cost documentary on Netflix which takes a really good look at the realities of the fashion industry, as does Dirty White Gold, which specifically relates to cotton production.” When you’re shopping, look for certification, like the Fair Trade mark. “If you want to feel more confident about worker welfare, Fair Trade ensures better treatment of farmers and fairer prices for product and GOTS – Global Organic Textile Standard – comes with social requirements as well. As well as choosing certified fabrics, look for brands who are transparent in communications about where they source their cotton from. There are countries that are at high risk of forced labour – Uzbekistan for example – and several brands have stopped sourcing their cotton from there because they can’t be confident that social standards are guaranteed.”
Look at the brand directory on Eco-age’s website for more information of labels that are socially and environmentally sustainable. “If you tell brands that we want to know where things are produced and that we expect really high standards, I think we have far more potential to move the industry forward.” And cotton can continue to be the globe’s most used material, guilt-free.
