‘We can’t turn a deaf ear to farmers’

LONDON – What’s the best cotton production method for farmers? Organic? Conventional? Better Cotton? We recently published research where we put the case that apparel brands are moving towards cotton standards such as organic and Better Cotton, despite any clear evidence that such standards are more sustainable than conventional cotton. We have since reached out to several apparel brands on this issue, and their responses will be published in due course.

In the meantime Anita Chester, head of sustainable raw materials at C&A Foundation, has acknowledged that, “current data and methodologies to gather that data are flawed,” adding that, “Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) are limited and don’t readily allow for comparison.”