Sustainable Fashion | The Australian Cotton Industry
We have searched worldwide for the very best clothing and it naturally led us to Aussie shores! Why…? Because the Australian cotton industry is naturally the world’s best!
You will notice our Stitch & Ware collections by our favourite Aussie brands Lost in Lunar & Madison Square are principally made of Cotton which are noticeably the best we’ve found!
We love the fact it is the most environmentally friendly cotton in the world and here’s why…
Image source: ABC (www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-10/australian-cotton-in-demand-as-consumers-seek-sustainable-fibres/8604774)
As we all know, Cotton is a natural fibre grown on a plant so the fibre can be made into consumer products. Cotton makes up just over a third of all the fibre sold globally, and is the world’s favourite natural fibre. Produced commercially in Australia since the 1960s, cotton has developed into one of their leading agricultural industries.
Cotton grown under the Australian sun is grown on some of the deepest and richest soils where they have a unique capacity for storing water by swelling and shrinking in harmony with the natural wetting and drying cycles of their regions.
Image source: The Weekly Times (www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/machine/crop-gear/john-deeres-round-bale-harvester-has-revolutionised-cotton-harvesting/news-story/63d862f73a9f4462bb3010bbba57d943)
Likewise, the agricultural community’s livelihood swells and shrinks with droughts and floods - and Australian cotton farmers have adapted to survive in what can be an unforgiving environment when the rains don’t come.
They have learned to make more from less - producing the highest yielding, highest quality, most environmentally-friendly cotton in the world.
These farming communities work with leading manufacturers and premium brands to differentiate their product, placing it into the hands of consumers all over the globe. The world wants Australian cotton. Although a relatively small producer on the world scale, Australia is the world’s fourth largest cotton exporter, producing sustainable, high quality, low contaminant cottons that attract a premium on the world market.
Continuous improvements in Australian cotton quality, particularly staple length and strength, means their raw product is increasingly being used for the production of premium quality fabric.
Image source: Cotton Australia (http://cottonaustralia.com.au/cotton-library/video)
Australian cotton farmers participate in a voluntary environmental program called Best Management Practices (BMP), which ensures cotton is produced and manufactured with the highest environmental standards from the farm and beyond.
Their innovative farm practices have seen water use efficiency double in the last 25 years, and Australian cotton growers deliver two to three times more cotton per land area than the global average.
© CJ, Stitch & Ware
