The story of an organic cotton shirt...

If you've ever wondered how cotton gets from the field to your wardrobe then read on...

Cotton is grown in many countries of the world with the main producers being India, Turkey, USA & China. In India, when farming conventional cotton, farmers apply pesticides and insecticides to the crop, often doing so by hand. Many of the chemicals used are highly toxic and there is little education about safeguarding the farmers and their families from the harmful effects caused by direct contact with such chemicals, or from the effects on local water supplies from the polluted water that washes down from the fields. From October to December, farmers and local villagers work the fields together harvesting the cotton. The raw cotton is sold and sent to the ginning mill.

A cotton field

Cotton seed

Cotton bales

At the ginning mill the raw cotton is put through ginning machines that separate out the cotton seed from the cotton fibre. By weight the majority of the crop is the separated cotton seed which usually ends up in our food chain through its uses for cattle feed or oil. Cotton seed oil is used in products such as snack foods, margarine, mayonnaise and baking and frying oils, so if the cotton seed is non-organic, many highly toxic pesticides and insecticides end up back in our food chain!

At the end of the ginning process the cotton is compressed into bales to facilitate transport to the spinning mill. Upon arrival, the bales are opened and all larger impurities are picked out by hand before the fibre is put through the blowing machine to extract dust and smaller impurities. The cotton fibre is then carded, and may be combed, into smooth, parallel, even strands which are finally spun into yarn and wound onto cones.

Spinnning cotton

Cones of cotton

The knitting machine

Sometimes the cotton yarn is dyed at the cone stage but it is more frequently knitted or woven into what is called 'greige' fabric before the dying process.

The greige fabric must be treated further to determine the fabric weight and density, and to preshrink and provide stability to the fabric. With cotton that has been processed in accordance with the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) (such as Saf products), this stage is carefully monitored to ensure that all processing takes place in accordance with organic and environmental standards. Chemicals which are considered to be environmentally damaging are prohibited, and all inputs are carefully monitored. A further key concern in conventional cotton production is the water treatment in dyeing facilities, as is often not properly controlled and untreated waste water may be pumped into the environment. Proper water treatment is a key element of the GOTS standard and no polluted water can flow into the local area.

Greige rolls of fabric

Sewing

Once the fabric is ready it is then cut to patterns and the panels are sewn and trimmed into the required garment. This stage is very labour intensive, and with GOTS certified cotton the labour standards are also checked to ensure full compliance with international labour standards. Once completed, and the garment has passed quality control, it is packed, boxed and then sent to the port to begin its long journey to Europe.