The most natural fiber
Humans have been cultivating cotton for more than 5,000 years. It first began with one of the earliest civilizations – the Indus Valley civilization – and is now grown in more than 80 countries using less than 2% of the world’s cropland. More than 100 million farm families have trusted cotton as it generates more than USD 50 billion revenue annually in raw product. Cotton is a part of our daily lives from the time we dry our faces on a soft cotton towel in the morning until we slide between fresh cotton sheets at night. It has hundreds of uses, from blue jeans to shoe strings.
Cotton Sustainability
Cotton is the most popular natural fiber, mainly grown from sunlight, water and earth. One of most sustainable aspect of cotton farming is that all parts of the cotton plant are useful. Apart from cotton fiber, linters are processed into batting for padding mattresses, furniture and automobile cushions and incorporated into high quality paper products. The cottonseed is crushed and separated into its three products – oil, meal and hulls. Cottonseed oil is used primarily for shortening, cooking oil and salad dressing. The meal and hulls are used either separately or in combination as livestock, poultry and fish feed and as fertilizer. The stalks and leaves of the cotton plant are ploughed under to enrich the soil.
Water management
Contrary to the popular belief, cotton is not a water-intensive crop , In-fact It is a very drought tolerant plant and in many parts of the world, rainfall is the only water source for the growers. Cotton also has a unique property of being tolerant to soil and water salinity levels. Global cotton production makes up 3% of total agricultural water. Modern cotton production practices focus to conserve water as well as preserve water quality by reducing fertilizer and pesticide runoff.
Land use & soil health
Soil has always been agriculture’s key resource and the effective use of this most fundamental resource is critical to its sustainability journey. The modern day farm practices strive to maximize land use efficiency and utilize soil conservation methods to protect and improve soil health. Technological advancements like the use of irrigation scheduling tools, coupled with production practices such no till and the use of cover crops, can lead to yield improvement and better management of our natural resources.
Energy
The energy equilibrium or the energy balance has gained a lot of attention as it considers the energy used to manufacture farm inputs like fertilizers and crop protection products along with the energy used to run the agricultural equipment. If we consider the complete cotton plant including the cotton seed, cotton produces more net energy than is required to produce it. This is on account of the energy stored in cottonseed as cottonseed oil can be processed and used for biodiesel, and unprocessed cottonseeds are source of nutritional energy as animal feed. Thus, cotton production process is a net energy provider.
Recyclability and biodegradability of cotton prodcuts:
Another aspect of cotton sustainability is that cotton can be reused, recycled and returned to the earth. Well-made cotton apparel is durable, which makes it a perfect match for the blossoming second-hand market where it can be reused repeatedly. Textiles made of 100% cotton can be recycled and may be used to create new products. When it can no longer be reused or recycled, cotton products can be discarded. Cotton is biodegradable in industrial compost, wastewater, salt water and freshwater environments, and it also degrades faster than manufactured cellulosic fibers like rayon and oil-based synthetics. According to a composting study performed by Cornell University, cotton is completely biodegradable. According to another study by researchers at North Carolina State University, after 35 days in lake water environments, 86% of cotton fibers had biodegraded, while polyester did not biodegrade at all.
Recent innovation and technological advancement in cotton fiber
During the last 40 years, we have seen advancements in the growing and processing of cotton, which has enabled the cotton industry to reduce its environmental footprint. The U.S. cotton industry continues to use and develop innovative technologies, adopt best management practices and fund research projects that will help develop new farming practices globally. Since the late 1990s, cotton has made great strides in reducing the use of tilling and in adopting the practice of growing winter or cover crops. Research shows that these improved conservation tillage practices dramatically reduce soil erosion and bring these activities into balance with soil creation. These gains have been made possible using higher yielding cotton varieties developed through both genetic modification and conventional breeding. Innovative techniques such as wind breaks, contour farming and conservation tillage have all been widely adopted across the U.S. More recently, U.S. cotton growers have implemented “precision agriculture” technologies including GPS receivers, multi-spectral images and ground-based sensors to map out soil property variations. Almost 63% of U.S. cotton growers employ some type of precision technology.
While making any purchase consumers mainly look for comfort, softness, quality, durability and price. Cotton scores better in terms of comfort, softness and quality among all other fibers. Also given the increasing focus on health and hygiene, cotton is a well suited fiber for consumers. According to survey conducted by Cotton Incorporated Cotton Lifestyle Monitor, 9 in 10 consumers say comfort is important to clothing purchase decisions while 80% rate clothing made of cotton as most comfortable. Additionally:
• 81% of consumers say clothing made of cotton is softest compared to man-made fiber clothing
• 93% of consumers think better quality garments are made from natural fibers such as cotton
• 81% of consumers say cotton/cotton blend is their favourite fiber to wear
• 61% of consumers ready to pay more for a natural fiber such as cotton.
• Regarding shopping for home textiles, 73% of consumers says cotton is more important to them
• 82% parents prefer cotton or cotton blend product for baby clothing.