Is cotton sustainable?
If there were such a thing as a perfect material, cotton would be a contender. It’s breathable, durable, comfortable, and easy to work with. There is no wonder that it’s one of the most farmed crops on our planet, the main issue with it lies in the way it’s farmed.
Unfortunately, a very small amount of cotton available on the market today is organic. You may shrug this off, thinking it can’t really make that much of a difference, but the chemicals used by the majority of cotton farmers negatively affect the lives of everyone involved, from the grower to the buyer.
The reason for such a high amount of inorganic cotton is that the crops are especially vulnerable to pests. Of course, the cotton industry has widely tackled this problem by using more pesticides and insecticides than any other crop in the world. The numbers are truly staggering, and the consequences devastating. Not only are the costs of these chemicals so high that they often put farmers into debt, but they are also toxic, and cause the deaths of tens of thousands of people every year. This carries on right through to the consumer, with traces of the harmful chemicals often remaining in finished garments on store shelves.
Fortunately, this is an easy problem to fix. The Australian cotton industry has been front running innovations to fix these problems and has now got cotton farming down to a fine art. Australian cotton farmers now grow more cotton on less land using less water and chemicals than anywhere in the world. We are currently the most environmentally and socially responsible cotton supplier, and Australia aims to act as a global example of how cotton should be grown. Through innovations such as this, cotton has a bright and chemical-free future as our society makes the move toward slow fashion.
Is cotton sustainable? Definitely, you just have to be educated on where your cotton is sourced. At Lux Commune, we aim to source only organic cotton. A massive part of the Slow Fashion Movement is to ensure our fashion choices are sustainable for the environment and people, which is why we commit to working with organic materials wherever we can.
The next time you buy a cotton product, take a minute to check out where it came from and see if the cotton is organic. You would be doing both the cotton industry and your own health a favour.
Can purchasing leather products be sustainable and ethical? Find out here.
