Caring about cotton

January 25, 2018

We LOVE cotton. It’s soft, comfortable, durable and breathable. That’s why we use it so much in our products, and why we’ve made a bold commitment to source all of our cotton in a sustainable manner by 2020.

Close up shot of a cotton plant

Cotton is a valuable natural resource and an incredibly important raw material that supports the lives of millions of people around the world. By integrating sustainable forms of cotton into our products, we are committed to continuing to improve people’s livelihoods and protecting the environment wherever we can.

So how are we doing it?

When we made the commitment to go for sustainable cotton we needed to decide what that actually meant for us. There are lots of different schemes that improve the impact of cotton in different ways; be it for the workers, farmers or the environment. We quickly realised that we wanted to impact the lives of the workers and farmers who grow cotton AND improve environmental impact, so for us it made sense to go for organic cotton and support the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI).

A black and white shot of a cotton plant field

Organic Cotton

Organic cotton is grown without the use of harmful pesticides and fertilisers, which is better for the environment and the farmers who produce the cotton. Unfortunately the amount of organic cotton in the world is only around 5% of the total global cotton yield, so there’s not a lot to go round. That’s why we decided to also support the Better Cotton Initiative to help us to improve our impact on a bigger scale.

A farmer holding a handful of freshly picked organic cotton

Better Cotton Initiative (BCI)

BCI is a non-profit organisation who work with farmers all around the world to gradually improve the way they grow their cotton. They invest in training for cotton farmers to improve water usage, reduce the amount of chemicals that they use and increase their yields, making it better for the environment and better for the people who produce it.

So when you’re buying a t-shirt from FatFace, you’ll know that we’re investing in an industry change to improve cotton production all around the world.

Two models wearing our cotton jumpers
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