How sustainable is cotton as a crop:-
We buy top quality yarn from the USA where over the years farmers have striven to reduce the amount of chemical input to the crop, halving the amounts of pesticides used over the last 20 years. But chemicals are still needed to grow non-organic cotton which is why we offer a large range of organic cotton options.
Cotton can be considered more sustainable than man-made synthetic fabrics as it does not produce micro-plastic fibres which also pollute the environment in unseen ways.
Is organic cotton a good alternative and what accreditations apply:-
We believe only buying and selling organic cotton is the long term future we are aiming for as a company. Our plans for moving quickly in this direction have been temporarily delayed by the current situation caused by covid-19. But we are working with our two suppliers in adding to our range of organic cottons whilst we work towards our final aim.
We do not buy any organic cotton from China. Most of our organic cotton is produced in India. Our organic fabrics are covered by GOTs. (GOTS is a textile production certification that limits the use of toxic bleaches, dyes and other chemical inputs during the production process of textiles. It is internationally recognized as the toughest organic textile standard because it goes far beyond verifying the organic farming process to include every step of manufacturing). Read more about GOTs at global-standard.org
Supplier 1 also works with the Soil Association. (Soil Association Certification Ltd (SACL) is a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Soil Association charity, independently providing organic certification services and advisory support on all aspects of organic certification). Read more about the Soil Association at soilassociation.org
Finally we are asked is our cotton Fair Trade:-
Because we feel we have taken every effort to ensure our cotton is fully accredited and ethically produced we have not gone down the Fair Trade route – despite totally endorsing everything for which the organisation stands.
We have also not applied for Fairtrade accreditation ourselves as all our products are all sewn here in our UK factory where we uphold the highest employment standards. Read more about Fair Trade at fairtradecertified.org