Cotton as a system – and its consequences

Cotton farming around the world affects water, emissions and people’s livelihoods – and is also being reshaped by climate change. In a system where many parts depend on each other, transparency and accountability become essential, especially as the industry moves towards more sustainable ways of working.

These were some of the key topics discussed during a Fashion, Facts & Fun (FFF) seminar hosted by Business Region Göteborg, where companies and industry stakeholders gathered to share knowledge, perspectives and experiences.

Where cotton changes form

When trying to trace the origin of cotton, it’s often described as a complex system – especially when attempting to follow the material all the way back to the farm. But according to Anne Oudard, Sourcing & Supply Chain Lead at the global platform Cotton Diaries, one of the most critical steps is often overlooked.

“A step that’s frequently missed is when seed cotton is sent to the gin. This is where fibres  are separated from seeds, quality is assessed, and farmers get paid,” she explains.

“And yet, this stage is either unclear or completely overlooked when supply chains are mapped.”

A large share of the world’s cotton is grown by smallholder farmers, and harvests from multiple producers are often mixed already during transport to the gin.
This gradually weakens the link to individual farms – but it can also offer a different kind of insight. When cotton from many farmers passes through the same location, data is collected that can provide a clearer picture of the region’s climate and social conditions.

This is also where several key data points for future digital product passports are created. When cotton arrives at the gin, information such as volumes, fibre quality and details about the farmers are gathered. The challenge is that this information rarely follows the material as a continuous thread through the system.

At the same time, Anne Oudard emphasizes that data alone isn’t enough. For sustainability efforts to be meaningful, information needs to be combined with dialogue with the people who actually produce the raw material.

The uncomfortable truth about pricing

For cotton farming to become more sustainable, it also needs to be economically viable for the farmer. Besim Ozek, who is both a farmer and a strategic executive at denim producer Bossa Fabrics, shares his perspective:

“Farmers are not romantic people. At the end of the day, we live for the money.”

He explains that cotton is a 150-day journey – from planting to harvest – where the farmer carries all the financial risk. If price premiums for more sustainable methods don’t reach the field, and organic farming often results in lower yields, profitability disappears. In the end, the farmer has to make decisions based on survival.

He points to a troubling paradox in the cotton industry: even when brands pay a premium of around 30–40 cents per kilo for organic cotton, often only 10–15 cents reach the farmer, while the rest is absorbed by certification and administrative costs.

The seminar also touched on how price relationships between materials influence the system. Recycled cotton from post-consumer sources is currently more expensive than organic cotton, while cotton still has a relatively low price compared to other textile fibres.
The fact that polyester is now more expensive than cotton for the first time in 30 years is, according to Besim Ozek, bad news for cotton farmers trying to have their work properly valued by the industry.

When the system meets the farm

To encourage farmers to invest in organic cotton, Besim Ozek would like to see greater appreciation from the industry – not just in terms of money, but through personal engagement and understanding of the work behind the fibres.

This view is also shared by Nudie Jeans Co, which already in 2006 decided to work exclusively with certified organic cotton. Through that journey, the brand has seen clear benefits from working closely with suppliers, farmers and spinning mills.

For Nudie Jeans, the work goes beyond setting requirements. Through long-term partnerships, where shared volume forecasts and, in some cases, pre-financing are used as tools to reduce uncertainty for growers.
At the same time, much of today’s sustainability work is built around certifications. Ida Aguilar describes how requirements are often set further up the supply chain and then expected to work in practice at farm level.

“We see the value of certifications, but they are often top-down. Requirements are passed down to farmers and change over time, so we also need to be involved in shaping them to make sure they actually work in practice,” she says.

It’s also at farm level that the real conditions become visible. Issues around working conditions come into focus, especially linked to migrant labor and how climate change affects daily work. Extreme heat in the fields increases health risks, particularly in environments where access to shade and water is limited.

If we bring such a resource-intensive product to market, we also need to take responsibility for what it actually costs to produce it in a responsible way, 

Ida Aguilar adds.

Resource use through recycling

Even with stronger partnerships, climate change is placing additional pressure on the system. Ida Aguilar at Nudie Jeans describes how unstable monsoon patterns in India and extreme heat in Turkey are affecting both crop yields and fibre quality. To reduce the pressure on agriculture, business models are also required that prioritise the longevity of products.

“Cotton is a resource-intensive fibre that should remain in the system for as long as possible. That is why we have an adapted business model with free repairs and integrated pre-consumer recycling,” she explains.

When textiles are broken down into new fibres, they become shorter and weaker, similar to cotton affected by harsher climate conditions.

Rather than seeing this as a limitation, the industry is increasingly exploring how to design products that make use of these characteristics.

“The hardest aspect of recycling is that it doesn’t work for all types of products. For example, you can’t make a high-quality shirt from post-consumer recycled cotton fibres. However, denim works well as an end use for recycled cotton,” says Besim Ozek.

Denim has properties that make it more forgiving and better suited for shorter fibres, without necessarily compromising on quality.

Within this shift lies an opportunity: to work smarter with what already exists and let constraints drive innovation rather than block it. But that also requires deeper dialogue across the industry – where knowledge is shared across the entire value chain, from field to finished product.