Discover with me everything there is to find out about sustainable cultivation and organic cotton !
Do you love soft and comfortable materials on your skin? Do you value sustainably produced raw materials? Discover with me everything there is to find out about sustainable cultivation and organic cotton ! You will be surprised how many advantages there are behind producing environmentally friendly materials. Convince yourself of an environmentally friendly production up to a skin-friendly experience that will inspire you all around!
Everything to do with organic cotton
- What is ORGANIC cotton?
- How is organic cotton grown?
- Where is ORGANIC cotton grown?
- Why is ORGANIC cotton better than conventional cotton?
- Which products are made from sustainable organic cotton?
- The perfect care for your darlings made of organic cotton
- Why is ORGANIC cotton good for clothing, home textiles, etc.?
What is ORGANIC cotton?
We all know the pleasant feeling when we wear clothes with a high cotton content. Now imagine that there is a cotton model on your skin that was produced without genetic engineering and without chemical fertilizers . – This is ORGANIC cotton!
Because the conventional cultivation of cotton unfortunately also harbors many disadvantages and dangers for people and the environment. Serious consequences are a high loss of energy and water use, heavy pollution of the soil and groundwater as well as the extinction of species through herbicides and fungicides. In order to escape the disadvantages of this way of conventional cotton cultivation, more and more small farmers are relying on the important advantages of the production of organic cotton.
By the way: You can find out everything about natural fiber cotton in our fabric dictionary.
How is organic cotton grown?
Although the name suggests it, the traditional cotton plant does not grow on trees, nor does it come from sheep. The raw material is planted as a shrub (mallow family) on fields in tropical and subtropical areas. In order to ensure proper growth of the plant, it needs 200 frost-free days and a moist environment at the beginning of growth so that the seeds can germinate well. As soon as the first pods of fruit can be seen, the ripening period has begun. From now on, a dry climate with temperatures of 20 to 30 ° C is required for the shrub.
Where is organic cotton grown?
Regions in which cotton can grow are summarized under the term “cotton belt”. This climate band stretches around the earth from the 32nd parallel south to the 37th parallel north. Organic cotton is currently grown in 18 countries. The five largest producers are
- India,
- China,
- Kyrgyzstan,
- Turkey and
- Tajikistan.
They make up almost 90 percent of total production. 56 percent of the production comes from India.
Why is ORGANIC cotton better than conventional cotton?
The difference between ORGANIC cotton and conventional cotton is based on a more responsible production towards people and nature.
Conventional cotton growing uses a lot of water
With conventional production, artificial irrigation systems supply the fields with more water than is actually necessary. As a result, a large amount of vital drinking water is wasted. When growing with chemical fertilizers, around 11,000 liters of water are required for 1 kilogram of cotton, in India, it is even just under 23,000 liters.
The Aral Sea, once the fourth largest lake on earth, suffered extremely from the growing agriculture: In order to reduce the import of cotton and rice, the former Soviet Union wanted to use the Central Asian region as a raw material base. The goal was to expand rice and cotton cultivation and to live independently of other countries. In the course of this, many tributaries to the Aral Sea were dug, which supplied the irrigation systems with the necessary water. However, 40 to 60 percent of the water was lost either through evaporation or seepage. What remains today is a 44.3 percent dry lake.
Chemical pesticides are used in conventional cotton
The cotton bushes are often attacked by insects and pests. This is why farmers use large amounts of chemical pesticides to counter this biological threat. A cotton plant is treated with chemical agents an average of 20 times in one season. Around 25 percent of the worldwide use of insecticides and around 10 percent of pesticides are due to cotton production.
By spraying pesticides on the cotton plants, dangerous toxins get into the air, the soil and the groundwater. The health of smallholders and harvest workers is therefore easily exposed to major health risks since there are chemical residues in the dust of the desert.
ORGANIC cotton is better for people and nature
To counteract this, the cultivation of organic cotton offers many environmentally and health-promoting alternatives. In an environmentally conscious production, the producers use techniques that meet ecological standards. For example, no mechanical tools are used to harvest using defoliants.
The workers do the harvest by hand, which prevents the crop from getting dirty as it passes through the machine. In order to maintain soil fertility, only natural materials such as manure and compost are used as fertilizers. In addition, you plant various crops between the cotton bushes, which increases the diversity of flora and fauna and promotes the balance between plant and animal pests and beneficial insects.
Which products are made from sustainable organic cotton?
The use of cotton is omnipresent in our everyday life. Typical goods made from natural material are sweaters, pajamas, underwear, bathrobes, towels, bags, or pillowcases. But products such as (banknote) paper, fishing nets, tents, and even fire hoses are made from cotton. We also have products made from organic cotton for women and products made from organic cotton for men.
The perfect care for your darlings made of organic cotton
Since goods from purely organic cultivation have to do without chemical pretreatment, a little more caution is required when cleaning.
- Wash your BIO-laundering sorted by color and with a water temperature of more than 30 ° C.
- Before washing, turn your clothes inside out.
- If possible, do without the tumble dryer and dry the ecological textile in the fresh air.
- When your laundry is dry and you get down to ironing, be careful not to iron over the prints on the clothes.
You can find more information on washing instructions and care symbols here.
Why is ORGANIC cotton good for clothing, home textiles, etc.?
The advantages of organic cotton
Wearing ecologically produced models has many important advantages! The fact that no chemical substances are used during breeding also affects the end result. That is why organic cotton is perfect for allergy sufferers and convinces every consumer with its pleasantly soft wearing comfort. ORGANIC cotton is perfect for those who are looking for more nature in fashion.
ORGANIC cotton: many advantages and only a few disadvantages
A higher quality standard also entails a greater financial expense. For example, while chemical dyeing costs around 60 cents for one kilogram of textiles, dyeing with natural colors costs around 2 euros for the same amount. The smallholders also have to accept demanding training courses and strict controls.
A time-consuming and nature-friendly process in production, more expensive marketing in order to draw attention to the pollutant-free and sustainably produced goods, and high requirements for further processing are reasons for a higher selling price than conventional cotton. But you don’t buy ORGANIC cotton to keep up with a trend, rather it is one investment in the future of Mother Nature that we should all be considerate of!
