Yesterday I happen to make a small stroll in some boutiques of Aix en Provence while waiting for my photos to be developed. And I was totally shocked to discover that one of the most popular teens-wear brand (selling clothes for cheap price) have gone biological cotton too. In fact they are not alone in doing such because there seem to be more and more big leading apparel companies making that switch to organic cotton. The organic clothing industry is experiencing now a meteoritic growth due to rising consumer awareness pushing the organic apparel from marginal niche to mainstream market.
But what is behind this revolution?
As a matter of fact, it was only around year 2000 that the industry was mainly in the hands of the “die-hard” people who contended for 100% purity of the natural fiber (meaning nothing could be added to it that is inorganic) thus resulting to a fabric less agreeable for a wider public. It was only in the recent years that more reasonable organic aficionado came into the limelight with a more modernistic approach and vision while still adhering to its environmental philosophy. This trend has even further developed into “eco-fashion” which means dressing-up organically without sacrificing appearance, a goal of marrying fashion with wellness. A US based agency LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) claims that consumers are now more environmentally and socially aware.
Is there a potential for organic apparel industry?
Although organic apparel have shown tremendous growth it is still small compared to the entire apparel industry (only 240 million dollars sales globally) and organic cotton represents only .25% of cotton supply worldwide. Furthermore, the market maybe ripe and there is a big demand for organic cotton but farmers are still hesitant because growing organically requires time (3 years to fully convert conventional farm to organic) and since most of lending financial institutions rely on pesticides for the success of the crop organic farming tends to be too risky financially for them. These cotton growers are businessmen and women after all that depended on their livelihood. Another issue involved is also the price (more or less 25% higher than conventional cotton). Not all consumers are willing and capable of buying. As Mark Massura said (vice-president for Strategic Planning of Cotton Incorporated) “It is like Ferrari, there is a market but very limited…”
Are they ethically made?
Going back therefore to this teens-wear brand I was really wondering how is it possible that their organic shirts are as same price as non-organic shirts (really cheap compared to Ideo-wear shirts). If I analyze it, this revolution of switching towards organic cotton for many of major big companies to me is more of a response to the growing awareness of the consumers’ more than “corporate belief-driven” move. They saw the opportunity and they took it. But on the question is it ethically made? Its for you to analyze.
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