Make Cotton Sustainable

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Katharine Hamnett:Commander For Fair And Green

Famous slogan t shirt designer Katharine Hamnett has been appointed as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2011 New Year Honours for services to the fashion industry. The award is an acknowledgment of her work as both a fashion designer and a campaigner for ethical and environmental rights.

According to the Telegraph, after having a close look into the social and environmental impact of the clothing and textile industry in 1989, Hamnett found out the clothing industry was unsustainable. Ever since, she is putting efforts trying to change it.

She has worked with the Environmental Justice Foundation campaigning against the cotton industry in Uzbekistan which forces men, women and children into the cotton fields each year. She also works to promote organic cotton to stop farmers using chemicals that harm both their health and the earth’s.

In the last 10 years, Hamnett has relaunched her T-shirts, making them with organic cotton grown to high ethical and environmental standards.

On her website, she says, “On a visit to Mali in Africa in 2003, I witnessed firsthand the devastating poverty faced by cotton farmers. I met a cotton farmer's wife who had lost two children at the breast from malnutrition because she had nothing to eat. Her fate is typical of thousands of cotton farming families across Africa and the developing world. When I was there, I asked a cotton farmer what is the downside of growing cotton conventionally. He said, "When we have sold our crop we have nothing left."

I asked, "What is the upside of growing cotton organically?" He said, "When we have sold our crop all the money is ours and we have our health."

She then realised that it was very important to create a demand for organic cotton. She says, "I want people to appreciate that organic cotton can look and feel as good as conventional cotton but the difference to cotton farmers and their families is huge.”

To read the full story: Katharine Hamnett to debut on Net-a-porter
Photo Courtesy: Katharine Hamnett