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Cotton: The Importance of Asking Questions
How many consumers ask questions before buying an item of clothing? How many producers ask questions while purchasing cotton for their textile companies? Considering the impact of cotton cultivation on the earth and cotton farmers, a lot of important factors should be dwelled upon.
Recently, Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia clothing company stressed on the importance of asking questions related to cotton at the Seafood Choices Alliance Seafood Summit in Vancouver B.C.
It all started in the early ‘90s when Yvon asked where Patagonia's cotton came from and what was known about it. It turned out, not much was known. Then he explained how his company soon learned that the cotton used in their clothing was actually 80 percent fiber and 20 percent chemicals. Patagonia staff also came to know that 25 percent of all the pesticides in the world are sprayed on cotton, a crop that represents 3 percent of agricultural production.
Soon, Yvon and others started coming face to face with many facts as they visited the places where the company was buying their cotton from. They found contaminated valleys and basins and communities that had cancer rates that were 10 percent higher than the national average. The cotton seed oil byproduct and the cotton dyes were also discovered as toxic. The source of the dying facilities they were was killing rivers in Europe.
After many initial hiccups, it took some years for Patagonia to move to entirely organic cotton clothes. It took some questions to be answered and some alternate solutions to be found out. It seemed a rather unusual topic to discuss at a Seafood Summit till Yvon told the audience of seafood industry groups and NGOs to ask the same questions about seafood industry and try to make a difference.
To read the full story: Apparel and Seafood: Paving the road to values-based living with questions
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