All about organic cotton

Cotton is the most produced natural vegetable fiber in the world. Very popular and widespread in the textile industry, this material can be cultivated in a conventional way (we speak then about organic material) or biological which will determine its environmental impact.

The organic culture of cotton is at the heart of our approach.
It is more ecological, more ethical and more sustainable. For the making of our accessories and our ecological clothes, we have chosen to work with GOTS certified organic cotton.

Organic cotton is the DNA of Les Mouettes Vertes. Discover its culture, its manufacturing and its use. Everything you need to know about organic cotton, labelled GOTS thanks to Les Mouettes.

At Les Mouettes Vertes, cotton is naturally organic!

If there is one material that sticks to our skin, it is organic cotton. From casual t-shirts to dress shirts, from soft pajamas to useful scarves, organic cotton is always in style.

It also sticks to our mouth if I may say so, so many expressions are used: ''it's cotton'', ''spinning a bad cotton'', ''raising your child in cotton''... After reading this article, other expressions will certainly come to your mind!

Organic cotton is part of our daily life and yet we don't ask ourselves many questions about it.

What is cotton?

Cotton is a plant fiber that surrounds the seeds of cotton plants. The cotton plant, a shrub that can grow up to 10 meters high, grows in arid tropical and subtropical regions.

In culture, we limit its size to one or two meters to facilitate the collection of cotton. At the time of the bloom appear large white or yellow flowers with five petals, without notable odor. Then capsules with thick and rigid walls develop. When they open, they let out seeds and cotton flocks covered with a tuft of whitish and silky fibers that can measure between 2 cm and 5 cm long depending on the variety. We extract the fibers, which are used for our clothes and other bags.

While cotton is an arable crop used primarily for its fiber, cotton seeds can also be crushed to produce oil for human consumption or oilseed cake for animal consumption.

Organic cotton and its cultivation

The cultivation of cotton requires a long vegetative season, a lot of sun and a total of 120 days of watering to ensure growth and dry weather at the end of the vegetative cycle to allow the opening of the bolls and avoid the rotting of the fiber. The cotton plant can withstand temperate climates as long as it does not freeze.

What are the cultivation basins for organic cotton?

Cotton cultivation is mainly rainfed, and is therefore mainly found in sub-Saharan Africa, the United States, India and China. Rainfed cultivation is theoretically possible from 400 mm of annual rainfall. However, in reality, cotton can only be grown without irrigation with a rainfall of over 700 mm/year, in order to compensate for the inter-annual variability of rainfall and the irregularities in its distribution. 5,260 liters of water are needed to produce one kilo of cotton (source CNRS). This explains why 40% of the land cultivated with cotton (Egypt, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Syria) is irrigated.

Who grows organic cotton?

Organic cotton is grown in more than 90 countries, with very different production methods and farm sizes, ranging from intensive monocultures with very high yields to traditional smallholder farming. It is estimated that its cultivation involves between 30 and 50 million people, the vast majority of them being smallholders living in developing or emerging countries. These farmers cultivate on average between 2 and 3 hectares of land, where cotton represents only a part of the cultivated area, the rest being devoted to food crops. Harvesting is still largely done by hand, with little mechanization.

The transformation of organic cotton... the work of an entire industry

This fiber, which is free of toxic products, is generally transformed into yarn that is woven into fabric. The textile industry brings together a whole chain of actors: the farmers, the spinner, the weaver and the garment maker.

The cotton producing countries do not necessarily have a processing industry (spinning/weaving/manufacturing). Thus we distinguish :

• exporting countries, due to the absence of a local textile industry: West Africa, Australia, USA, Uzbekistan
• Importing countries, for which the purchase of cotton complements national production, thus covering the needs of the country's textile industry (China, India, Pakistan, Brazil).

Some figures on organic cotton

About 809 kilos of cotton are produced per second in the world, that is to say 25.5 million tons of cotton lint despite the trend towards scarcity of cultivation areas (2012 figures). 80% of the world's cotton production is grown in the northern hemisphere and the United States is the leading cotton exporter ahead of India. In half a century, world cotton production has more than doubled to reach 27.4 million tons in 2011, compared to an estimated consumption of 25.38 million tons (1).

• World cotton production 2010-2011
  25.11 Mt. Of which China: 26%, India: 22%, USA: 16%, Brazil: 8%, Pakistan: 8%. Forecast 2011-2012 (January 2012): 26.75 Mt.
• World cotton consumption 2010-2011
  24.89 Mt. Of which China: 40%; India: 18%; Pakistan: 9%; Turkey: 5%. Forecast 2011-2012 (January 2012): 23.95 Mt.
• World cotton exports 2010-2011
  7.77 Mt. Of which USA: 40%, India: 14%, Uzbekistan: 7%, Australia: 7%, Brazil: 6%.

Organic cotton: day side... but also night side

Cotton on the day side

• is 70% of the world textile market,
• 25 million tons produced each year,
• 2.4% of the world's cultivated areas.

The night side of cotton

• is 25% of the insecticides used in the world
• the use of chlorine and heavy metal agents such as lead or chromium for bleaching and dyeing the material.
• one million people intoxicated by them
• and 20,000 deaths each year.

It is also hundreds of millions of cubic meters of irrigation water that could be used to increase the yields of food crops, and finally one of the greatest ecological disasters of the twentieth century: the drying up of the Aral Sea.

For the Mouettes Vertes, it's organic cotton or nothing!

So for us, since the creation of Les Mouettes Vertes in 2005, the GOTS certified organic cotton, respectful of the environment, was imposed!

The organic cotton, concretely, it is :

• The absence of insecticides and synthetic pesticides (natural pesticides may exist)
• Water consumption reduced by half (without chemical application, water consumption is reduced)
• Crop rotation to oxygenate the soil, preserve it and break the disease cycle

And for farmers, growing organic cotton has many benefits:

• Improving the health of their families (eliminating dizziness, allergies and respiratory problems)
• Greater financial autonomy (elimination of loans taken out to buy pesticides or GMOs)

What is GOTS certified organic cotton?

The GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) is the standard defining the various social and environmental criteria to be respected. The GOTS is a real guarantee of confidence and quality. It certifies the organic origin of the fibers. GOTS is also the association that brings together the main global players in the textile industry (growers, traders, spinners, weavers, distributors, consumers). This association was created in 2007 in order to define a unique set of specifications for the ecological textile chain.

Les Mouettes Vertes work with ECOCERT and CONTROL UNION. Thus, on each bag Les Mouettes Vertes, you will find the GOTS label.

Les Mouettes Vertes and the fair trade organic cotton

It is not always easy to distinguish between greenwashing and the real commitments made by brands.
Multiple labels exist, each guaranteeing different aspects of production.
If certified organic cotton guarantees that the raw material has been grown without pesticides, fair trade cotton guarantees a decent income for the producers of this fiber.

Compared to conventional cotton, GOTS-certified organic cotton guarantees the respect of an ecological and ethical approach throughout the whole chain, from the farmer to the garment maker. All the products of Les Mouettes Vertes respect these specifications.

Now, if a friend asks you "but what is the use of organic cotton for a bag? it doesn't stick to the skin..." Answer her that indeed cotton is not necessarily in direct contact with the skin... on the other hand, do not hesitate to tell her that a GOTS labeled product is made in conditions that respect nature and people. And that this is just as important!

Another idea, don't hesitate to do a survey among your friends... do they really know about organic cotton?