Professional guide

Cotton's Many Faces

How can a normal cotton t-shirt be sustainable if finishing it takes its weight in chemicals and up to three times that in water? A single t-shirt uses 9 oz of cotton, 17 tsp synthetic fertilizers and nearly a tsp of pesticides – classified as the most toxic – linked to cancer.

Cotton is the most universal of textile fibres, associated with purity and positive natural qualities, but one of our most widely used crops to make apparel products has an alarming statistic: Cotton is a fragile crop that requires large amounts of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers. In developing countries, around 50% of pesticides used are for cotton cultivation. This leads to pollution of soil and drinking water, poisoning, and structural debts for farmers. Its cultivation also uses vast amounts of water. Irrigation is required for three-quarters of global cotton production. Cotton growers typically use many of the most hazardous pesticides on the market including aldicarb, phorate, methamidophos and endosulfan. Cotton pesticides can be pesticides originally developed as toxic nerve agents during World War II--and carbonate pesticides. Pesticides used on cotton even when used according to instructions harm people, wildlife and the environment. These pesticides can poison farm workers, drift into neighbouring communities, contaminate ground and surface water and kill beneficial insects and soil micro-organisms. Many of the pesticides used in many countries are actually banned in the US and EU, and they are exported to places where they are in no way used safely nor is protective clothing easily available. In India the average age of a cotton farmer is around 40, while life-expectancy in the same country is 63,3 years (2004).

Irrigation is required for three-quarters of global cotton production

US farmers are not allowed to use cheap DDT on cotton crops, yet much of the cotton in other countries is grown with this pesticide. A mill in India can for example import US cotton to make products for Europe, where regulations prohibit importing DDT, and then use their own Indian cotton with DDT residue for export to other markets. The annual consumption of pesticides in Peru reached an all-time high about 18 pounds (8 kg) of pesticides per person per year. Experts say that only one percent of the insect pest damage is being controlled, when there are lots of insect-repellent plants (for example Lappia that can be burned at crucial times), also pests can be removed by hand as an alternative; and there is good news about eucalyptus (see recommendations).

New initiatives

Conventional cotton is trying to clean up its act, primarily in the production phase; but also by improvements in general agricultural practices such as integrated pest management practices, no-till farming (reduced soil erosion and lower carbon emissions from farm tractors) and lateral move irrigation (improved irrigation efficiency resulting in lower water consumption). The integrated pest management practices are teaming up with improvements in pesticides (comprised of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides) that allow for lower application levels and more targeted application. The most important and ubiquitous factor is the rapidly increasing use of GMO cotton seed stock in U.S., Australia, India and China. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) estimates that in 2005 about 28% of the global cotton field acres were planted in transgenic GMO cotton, according to “Cotton Outlook to 2010-11” by Drum, Roberts and Smirl. The USDA reports that 87% of the U.S. cotton crop was genetically engineered in 2007.

GM/GMO cotton

There is a lot of discussion around GM/GMO cotton, which is genetically manipulated cotton in case you didn't know. The up-side is of course that GM/GMO cotton needs hardly any pesticides, herbicides or fungicides since they are bred to withstand pests and to survive drought-periods. So water-management gets thumbs-up. The organic community is not so happy, and refuses to use GM/GMO cotton. Some will argue that no seed on earth today is not genetically manipulated, through selection, since we generally demand as white cotton as possible with the best staple length. Colored cotton has also been developed and farmed, but what constitutes "genetically manipulated" vs "natural selection" is still being discussed.

Better Cotton Initiative

 While BASIC cotton (see Tools, Cotton Manual) claims to have reduced pesticide use with 70 %, another initiative where IKEA, H&M and other big companies are involved, is also making major steps in the cotton field. In Pakistan alone they have schooled 80,000 farners so far (2009) and as a result pesticide and water use is down 50 %, fertilizers have been reduced with 30 % and earnings are up 40 %. IKEA's goal is that by 2015 all cotton that they source will be from "healthy farms". And just so you know; IKEA sources lyocell and linen as their alternative fibres.

Organic of course

The general stumbling-block for organic cotton has been the small input. But organic cotton is growing in leaps and bounds. From 6.400 tonnes (2001) to 189.000 tonnes (2009). But as the Organic Exchange have admitted: There is good and there is bad organic cotton. They also see climate change and water shortage as huge challenges. The recent news that India plans to target a ten-fold increase in organic product manufacturing by 2012, is quite a boost for the organic cotton industry. Based on the fact that about 60 % of India's agricultural land is said to be organic by default, since the intensive use of chemicals is mainly concentrated in the country's irrigated areas - the Indian government plans to speed up the slow pace of certification of organic zones. Similar frustration with lack of certification in areas with chemical-free farming, has been discussed also in some of India's neighbouring countries.

Cotton made in Africa - Aid by Trade
Cotton made in Africa is an initiative by the Aid by Trade Foundation, which is not aimed at charity but rather at market-based support, which is long term and sustainable. Cotton made in Africa offers cotton to fashion companies and designers with additional social value. Together with various partners from business, government and non-governmental institutions, we make a major contribution to combating poverty and protecting the environment in developing countries, especially in Africa. Cotton made in Africa helps people to help themselves. It improves the living conditions of small holder cotton farmers and their families in sub-Saharan Africa. We provide on-farm training for the cotton farmers, teaching them how to grow cotton in a way that is efficient and conserves resources. That helps the farmers to grow sustainable cotton, to harvest more and to achieve better returns. All in all we are able to improve the living conditions of 1 Million people in Burkina Faso, Benin, Zambia and Mozambique by working with 150,000 cotton farmers. In addition, Cotton made in Africa offers global sourcing support along the supply chain. We initiatiate workshops for our partners explaining the sourcing system and provide them with market information about prices and sources. We also support local merchandisers and traders with our local representatives in Istanbul, Shanghai and Dhaka.

Uzbek cotton a no-no
The fashion industry has one serious and thorny issue with cotton, which goes to cotton sourced from Uzbekistan, where there is forced child labor, endorsed by the government. Some strides have been made, but obstacles remain. One being that very factories who source cotton-materials know where the cotton actually comes from. In September 2011 more than 60 US and European companies pledged to "not knowingly source Uzbek cotton using forced child labor". The Responsible Sourcing Network, a project of the non-profit organization As You Sow, which is coordinating the pledge and initiative, estimates that nearly 2 million children in Uzbekistan, some as young as 7 years old, are forced to leave school by the government to toil in the cotton fields for two to three months a year. They face 10-hour work-days, are exposed to harmful chemicals. According to the RSN, they risk physical harm and expulsion from school if they do not pick a quota of 100 pounds of raw cotton a day. Judy Gearhart, excecutive director of the International Labor Rights Forum says that supply chain traceability is a real concern because the large cotton traders often buy Uzbek cotton and sell it to textile-firms in China and other countries that spin it in to yarn and weave it in to fabric.
 

(Sources: CREM, Sandy Black, Kate Fletcher, organicclothing.blogs.com, White Pages, CMiA, WWD)