Organic Cotton
It is easy to become confused by and suspicious of the proliferation of “ethical” claims by manufacturers about textiles, and T-shirts in particular, (eco-friendly, green, sustainable, organic, 100% natural, azo-free, fairly traded, Fairtrade, ethically traded). What does each mean exactly, what difference do they make, and are they legitimate?
A clear explanation of each will allow you to decide what is genuine, and who is trying to misdirect or make unrealistic claims.


Background: the unethical clothing industry .

The textile industry has tremendous negative impacts on the environment, health and livelihood of cotton farmers and workers. Evidence suggests that it may also be detrimental to the health of consumers.

Pressure to produce quickly increasing quantities of cheap textiles has led the industry to adopt some of the most unethical trade practices on the planet. Sweatshop practices have been denounced very successfully in the past 10 years, and you are probably aware of the unacceptable working conditions which have been the norm in many manufacturing mills in the developing world, such as long working hours, low wages, and child labour. As a result, your expectations as a consumer have forced popular brands to look into the conditions in which their products are manufactured.

On the other hand, the negative environmental and social impact of fibre production and fibre processing are only starting to be addressed. Most consumers are still unaware of how severe and wide-ranging are the problems. Those that do, have contributed to the growth of the organic movement. And while it is true that cotton can be produced in an environmentally friendly way (ORGANIC), while contributing to alleviate poverty in some of the least developed countries (FAIR TRADE), in practice, this is not what we mostly observe today.

The major textile certification schemes are Organic, Fair Trade, and other “Eco Labels”.
In order to understand what these standards are designed for, and what an organic or fair trade cotton T-shirt means, it is important to know how cotton textile is made.

How are T-shirts Made?

‘The negative impacts of conventional cotton production ‘

Cotton is grown commercially using a large amount of pesticides and herbicides, toxic chemicals designed, as the name suggests, to kill pests, insects, weeds, fungus, or any other kind of living things. Most cotton is also grown on poorly managed soils, which would be almost sterile without large amounts of synthetic fertilizers. More insecticides are sprayed on cotton than on any other major crop. Many problems are associated with this production method. Severe negative impacts include: loss of biodiversity and damage to ecosystems and wildlife, depletion of precious natural resources such as water and soil, and heavy contamination of water bodies. The ecological devastation of the Aral Sea area in central Asia, one of the most visible ecological disasters on the planet, almost entirely due to cotton production, symbolises cotton’s environmental impacts.

Other impacts include poisoning (sometime fatal) of farmers, and intolerable indebtedness of poor farmers trapped on the “pesticide treadmill”. In some areas, the cost of chemicals is now reaching 60% of farmers’ production costs. The use of pesticides on small-scale cotton farms in developing countries has unacceptable negative impacts on the health of farmers and their families, and on their environment. On such farms, the level of training required to avoid hazards when using pesticides is seldom attainable. The necessary protective equipment is almost never used because of its lack of availability and its prohibitive price, and is inappropriate for use in tropical climates.


‘The positive impacts of organic cotton production’

However, cotton can be grown following the strict principles of organic agriculture. Organic agriculture uses no synthetic chemical pesticides, no synthetic fertilizers, and no Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). Organic fertilizers (such as manure) and plant-based pest management products (such as neem or garlic extract) are used. However, organic agriculture is not only a mere substitution of synthetic inputs with natural inputs. The major principle is to restore a natural balance within farms, with healthy and well-structured soils, rich in organic matter. In such an environment, the pests (any living things which damage the crop) are not systematically destroyed by poisons, but are kept under control by their natural predators. Biodiversity (the diverse range of living species: plants, animals, microorganisms) and agro-diversity (the diverse range of crops planted by the farmer, as well as livestock) are integral parts of an organic farm.
The organic cotton fibre that is harvested is similar to most conventional cotton fibres, except that it is guaranteed non-GM, and is not contaminated with pesticides. The main difference is that the ecosystem where it has been produced has not been damaged, and chemicals have not poisoned the farmer and his or her family.

The cotton produced while converting from conventional farming to organic farming is called ‘organic in conversion’. This is a necessary but difficult stage for any organic farmer, as the cotton may cost more to produce, but cannot be sold at the premium that certified organic cotton can achieve. Some companies have decided to incorporate this cotton into their conventional cotton production, as an indication to consumers of their support for, and understanding of organic issues, and forward thinking business ethics.

Fully organic cotton fibre is certified as an organic agricultural product, along with other crops on the farm, by a private certification body, which guarantees that the rigorous organic standards have been strictly followed. The UK-based Soil Association, for example, is one among over 100 such certification agencies worldwide, which are accredited and audited by various bodies such as the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movement, Control Union Group, which now, at last, are being brought together under a single GLOBAL ORGANIC TEXTILE STANDARD (GOTS).

Therefore, the certification of cotton fibre as an organic agricultural product is extremely reliable. If the label of your T-shirt claims that it has been made with organic cotton, you can be confident that the cotton fibre has really been grown organically. There is no need for a logo, the word “organic” is sufficient.

However, the word ‘organic’ only refers to a guarantee on the growing stage of the cotton fibre, and not on the processing or the manufacturing, and there is still a long way from the fibre to a T-shirt.

Fibre processing

There are many stages required to process cotton from fibres to fabrics. The fibres are cleaned, carded (combed), spun into yarn, coated with starches or chemicals, woven into fabric (or knitted in the case of a T-shirt), cleaned up from their coating and their natural wax, bleached, immersed in concentrated caustic soda, dyed or printed, and chemically treated for easy care and other properties. All these stages require a large number of chemicals of various toxicity and hazards. Some of these chemicals threaten the health of workers, while others cause environmental pollution from the mills’ waste water. Finally, many of these chemicals are found as residues in the finished product, and some of them may affect the health of consumers, and are suspected to cause allergies, eczema, and even cancers.

In order to address those processing and manufacturing stages, a handful of organisations, mostly organic certification agencies, have developed their own private voluntary “organic” or “sustainable” standards for textile, and are certifying finished products according to those standards.

Such organic certification agencies and their textile processing scheme include the Soil Association and the Control Union International (aka SKAL International); the new GOTS will encompass those.

And so, what we commonly call in Europe an “organic T-shirt” is a T-shirt made with certified organic cotton fibre, and processed according to those textile processing standards. The certification agency then authorises the manufacturer to add its logo (or mark, or symbol) on the T-shirt’s label or their marketing literature. This is essential in order to recognize an Organic T-shirt.

While the processing and manufacturing are not really “organic” in a similar way that agricultural products are “organic”, what those standards aim to achieve is to maintain the integrity of the organic nature of the fibre as much as possible. This is achieved by using as much organic material as possible, and by adopting alternative chemicals and processing practices that minimize the impact on the environment, and protect the health of consumers, while insuring textiles of high quality that are economically viable. The Oeko-Tex Standard 100 Mark is one such standard.

The Oeko-Tex Standard 100 Mark

The Oeko-Tex Standard 100 Mark (or Öko-Tex ) is probably the most widely recognised standard in textiles, which sets strict limits on the amount of substances harmful to consumers which can be found in the finished textile product. The mark states “Confidence in Textiles” is displayed on textile products which have been tested by one of the member institutes. Criteria are even more stringent for baby clothes than any other textiles. Most of the criteria for residues in the baby clothes category are comparable to health criteria of the organic textile standards.

Although Oeko-Tex standards only address specifically consumer’s health issues, the necessity to comply with the criteria induces better environmental practices at the processing and manufacturing level. The standards offer significant environmental benefits. Therefore, when choosing a sustainable T-shirt, look for Oeko-Tex certified T-shirts, made with 100% organic certified cotton.

                                           

          


Ethical Trading

Some companies go further, and open up their manufacturing processes and business practices to scrutiny by organizations set up to promote fair labour conditions such as the ‘FAIR WEAR FOUNDATION’ (FWF).

The FWF exists to promote fair labour conditions in the garment industry world wide; this means it’s member companies have undersigned FWF's Code of Labour practices, and thereby the company has committed itself to monitor the factories of its suppliers, and the Fair Wear Foundation verifies that the Code of Labour Practices is actually implemented and respected at the factories.

A Fair Trade Cotton T-shirt:

What is fair trade?

Fairtrade is a worldwide movement which aims to ensure that producers in developing countries receive a fair price for their work, benefit from acceptable working conditions, and improve their livelihood. In contrast to organic agriculture, there are no public regulations for fair trade, and the fair trade movement is not formally unified.

To date, anybody can claim to be trading its products fairly. So how can you recognise a genuine fair trade product, and what is a fair trade product exactly?


Fairly traded cotton

The FAIRTRADE Mark for seed cotton (raw cotton before ginning) was first launched in the UK in November 2005. It ensures that cotton producers have received a fair price for their produce.

To this date, the standards only cover the seed-cotton, with a social compliance assessment covering the processing and manufacturing. This means that a T-shirt bearing the FAIRTRADE Mark was only made with100% Fairtrade cotton. FLO Cert completes a social compliance assessment of the processing and manufacturing stages prior to the registration of the whole supply chain. Processors and manufacturers are required to produce evidence that minimum national and international legislations with respect to labour rights are adhered to. In principle, this ensures that your fair trade T-shirt, at a minimum, has not been produced in sweatshops or using forced child labour. FLO is currently researching the feasibility of a Fairtrade standard for textiles and certification at a garment making level.

Similarly, labour organizations such as the Fair Wear Foundation work towards ensuring minimum standards of production are met and exceeded, this is done by working with producers, their factories, and their supply chain, rather than certifying products themselves. While Fair trade works with small producers in the developing countries only, organizations such as the FWF work with companies of any size, anywhere in the world.


A fair trade T-shirt is not an organic T-shirt.

The Fair trade standards include environmental criteria, which mostly require farmers to work toward best environmental practices, and encourage them to convert to organic agriculture. An “Integrated Crop Management” system is progressively adopted, which seek to minimize the use of agrochemicals, and prohibit the use of the most hazardous pesticides. Nonetheless the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers is still allowed, as many poor farmers, without strong support to learn organic methods, would not
be able to join the scheme if chemicals were completely prohibited. As a result, Fair trade certified cotton is not necessarily organic.

Considering that organic cotton projects on every continent have proven the feasibility of organic cotton, and considering the many benefits that organic cotton production have brought to small-scale farmers around the world, PAN UK encourages FLO to continuously revise its environmental, health and safety criteria for cotton, and do more to assist producers to work toward conversion to organic agriculture. Conversion to organic agriculture is a long and difficult process, and Fairtrade, thanks to its efficient Internal Control System, and its price premium, constitutes a great opportunity to assist cotton producers to slowly convert to organic agriculture. The Fairtrade premium can be used in part to finance organic agriculture training, and the successful FAIRTRADE mark can enable farmers to benefit from premium market access during the difficult organic transitional period. The bottom line is that the success of Fairtrade cotton is a unique and unprecedented opportunity to help tens of thousands of farmers to convert to organic. This is already happening in some projects, but it is far from being a general practice with cotton, especially in Africa.

Fairtrade cotton farmers are required to use individual protective equipment when spraying pesticides. This undoubtedly reduces the risk of pesticide poisoning. However safe use of pesticides is very difficult to achieve, especially by small-scale farmers working under tropical climates in developing countries. For this reason, PAN UK’s view
is that current Fairtrade standards for cotton do not address sufficiently health and safety issues.

While organic cotton offers the best benefits to small-scale farmers and the global environment, Fairtrade cotton also offers great benefits to farmers, and you should definitely prefer Fairtrade T-shirts over any conventional alternatives. A significant proportion of Fairtrade cotton, especially in the UK (but not all!), is also organic. Therefore, you should look primarily for organic Fairtrade T-shirts. If you purchase a non-organic Fairtrade T-shirt, write to the manufacturer and to FLO and ask them to do more to assist the producers to convert to organic agriculture.

Fairtrade complements nicely organic cotton, and offers additional benefits: while the organic cotton price still depends on world market prices, Fairtrade guarantees a fixed price to the farmer at the beginning of the season, based, in principle, on production costs. Therefore, in the event of a sudden drop in world market price, the farmer will still receive the agreed price. Farmers are safe from market price fluctuations. A Fairtrade premium is also reserved for community development projects, such as health centres, etc… While organic projects often carry out such initiatives, it is not a requirement of the organic standards.
Finally, a Fairtrade cotton mark guarantees that the fibre was grown in a developing country such as India or Africa, where it had the greatest positive impacts on very poor producers. The vast bulk of organic cotton is produced in countries such as Turkey, which cannot now be considered a developing country, where poverty is not considered a problem often associated with farmers, (although they may be considered poor by Western standards) and so here, organic cotton production can never be called Fairtrade, even if it is fairly traded (although it will still have huge benefits on the global environment).

To summarize, Fairtrade is very limited geographically as it mainly operates in developing countries. Fairtrade T-shirts are not necessarily organic T-shirts. Fairtrade only guarantees that minimum social and environmental standards are met; the law of the particular country requires these minimum standards are met in any case.

While organic cotton farmers can hope for better incomes thanks to lower production costs (no expensive chemicals are used), lower health costs, and organic premium price, they are still at the mercy of highly versatile cotton market prices. Farmers typically receive a 20% premium for their organic cotton, but if world cotton prices drop, their income may also decrease. A wider crop diversification can mitigate this risk, and most organic cotton projects are working toward this goal. Cotton prices are also kept artificially low because of unfair subsidies paid to cotton farmers in the USA and Europe, which violates rules of the World Trade Organisation. Organic agriculture, unfortunately, is unable to directly address this issue, but can mitigate its impact. It can also help raise awareness of the issue, thus pushing for more equitable international trade practices in the future.


Who are the fair trade organisations?

Most fair trade import organizations are members of, or certified by one or several national or international federations, which coordinate, promote and facilitate the work of fair trade organizations. The following are the largest and most influential:

FLO - The Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO), created in 1997, is the largest and most widely recognized standard setting and certification body. Products it certifies are labelled FAIRTRADE (one word). It regularly inspects and certifies producer organizations in more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, encompassing approximately one million families of farmers and workers.

IFAT - The International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) is a global association created in 1989 of fairtrade producer cooperatives and associations, export marketing companies, importers, retailers, national and regional fair trade networks and fair trade support organizations. In 2004 IFAT launched the FTO Mark which identifies registered Fair Trade Organizations (as opposed to the FLO system, which labels products).

EFTA - The European Fair Trade Association (EFTA), created in 1990, is a network of European fair trade organisations which import products from some 400 economically disadvantaged producer groups in Africa, Asia and Latin America. EFTA's goal is to promote fair trade and to make fair trade importing more efficient and effective.

FTF - The Fair Trade Federation (FTF) is an association of Canadian and American fair trade wholesalers, importers and retailers. The organization links its members to fair trade producer groups while acting as a clearinghouse for information on fair trade and providing resources and networking opportunities to its members.



References
This text has been edited down from the PAN UK guide "My Sustainable T-shirt".

The full and complete edition is available to read at www.pan-uk.org


Useful Contacts

Organic

The Soil Association
South Plaza, Marlborough
St., Bristol BS13NX, UK
+44 (0)1117 914 2407
www.soilassociation.co.uk

Naturland
Kleinhaderner Weg 1,
82166 Gräfelfing,
GERMANY
+49 (0)89 / 89 80 82-0
www.naturland.de

Control Union Certifications
Dr. Klinkertweg 28b,
P.O. Box 161
8000 AD ZWOLLE
THE NETHERLANDS
+31 (0)38 - 426 01 00
www.certification.controlu nion.com

Organic Exchange
5332 College Avenue,
Oakland, CA 94618, USA
+1 510 597 9949
www.organicexchange.org


Fair Trade

FLO - Fairtrade Labelling Organisations
Kaiser-Friedrich-Str. 13
53113 Bonn, GERMANY
+49 228 949 230
www.fairtrade.net

The Fairtrade Foundation
16 Baldwin’s Garden
EC1N 7RJ London, UK
+44 207 405 5942
www.fairtrade.org.uk

EFTA - European Fair Trade Association
Kerkewegje 1
6305 BC Schin op Geul
THE NETHERLANDS
+31 43 325 69 17
www.eftafairtrade.org

IFAT - International Fair Trade Association
Prijssestraat 24
4101 CR Culemborg, NL
+31 345 53 59 14
www.ifat.org

Other

FWF - Fair Wear Foundation
Postbus 69253
1060 CH  Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel:   020 - 408 42 55
Fax:  020 - 408 42 54
E-mail: info@fairwear.nl

International Labour Organisation
4, route des Morillons
1211 Geneva 22
SWITZERLAND
+41.22.799.6111
www.ilo.org

Öko-Tex
Gotthardstr. 61,
8027 Zürich,
SWITZERLAND
+41 (44) 206 42 35
www.oeko-tex.com

Pesticide Action Network UK
Development House
56-64 Leonard Street
London. EC2A 4LT
United Kingdom
t: +44 (0)20 7065 0905
f: +44 (0)20 7065 0907