Designing for an organic cotton

future
If organic production is to expand, textile and
clothing companies need to stimulate the demand.
Manufacturers in California took this step in the
early 1990s, and many other companies are now
following suit.  Lynda Grose was involved at the
outset and writes about the part designers can play
in this process.

IntroductionWhenever a new idea or need

challenges the status quo, there is inevitably
conflict. We can observe this in many areas:
business and environment, cost and environmental
goals, design aesthetics and environmental
considerations, for example.    Traditionally, we are
trained to think that both sides must compromise to
resolve conflict. However it is often the
determination not to compromise principles that
forces innovation. In order to establish an
innovative idea over the long-term, one must build
bridges to integrate the new thinking into the old.
In this way we can prevent inspired solutions from
becoming a mere niche and create change.   
Designers have an important role to play in this
process. Trained as creative problem-solvers and,
by their very nature, always striving to do things
better, they can often identify opportunities where
the conventional business mind may see problems.
In order to realise their vision in a business
environment, they become adept at building
bridges on their own terms. By incorporating
environmental impact considerations into this
established commercial design process, they can
make a valuable contribution to the advancement of
organic cotton in the mainstream market.

Potential conflictsThe present industrial system

Traditionally, farmers and even the textile mills are
separated from the marketplace.  Apparel
manufacturers, comprising design, merchandising,
trend analysis and retail sales, observe the
marketplace and plan their business according to
anticipated retail customer buying patterns.  For
example, Easter and Christmas are particularly high
volume sales periods.  The yearly business plan
usually includes a delivery of new merchandise
every month.   Designers plan the size and look of
the line according to the business plan, design
fabrics for fashion trends, visual variety and a range
of price points, and specify fabric developments
through textile mills. Designers are generally
unaware of the environmental issues and costs
faced by farmers and mills and these issues are not
part of their daily design considerations.  Costs to
develop the raw fibre into a finished garment are
calculated and marked-up accordingly at each step
of the process. It is a linear system (see diagram).   
Clothing designers are the link between the
manufacturing process and the customer, between
the technical and the end marketing requirements.

Problems: real or perceived?The organic cotton

movement continues to go through ups and downs
as a fledgling industry. The three  most common
concerns are the extra cost of growing the fibre and
of special processing through the mills, the lack of
variety and fashion appeal of organic fabrics and an
unaware, uneducated public.    These issues are
often presented as the reasons why the organic
cotton industry may always in future be limited to
niche markets.  However, designers manage a
whole host of limits during the development of a
product.  The only obstacle to solving these
additional problems is our inability or reluctance to
widen our vision to encompass them in our
standard creative process.

Long-term solution or quick-fix?A popular

'solution' to these perceptual problems has been
labelling conventionally produced unbleached
cotton 'environmentally friendly' and presenting a
'natural' or 'green' message to the customer. Many
manufacturers used this approach and enjoyed
market success. But it has serious limitations. It
meets business target costs, but compromises
environmental goals. It does not help to create a
demand for organic cotton, or influence farmers to
plant more organic acreage and so lead to a
reduction in chemical use on the farm. It does not
educate the customer about the real environmental
impact of conventional cotton production, and it
does not force any innovative ways of working that
will help shift the industrial system as a whole.    As
designers, our focus is too often on styling,
competition in the marketplace and price. This is
the design equivalent of industry cleaning polluted
environments, rather than preventing pollution in
the first place. By focusing on the end of the
product life cycle, and working backwards to
minimise environmental impact, we run into the
inertia of the industrial system. By educating
ourselves about the environmental impact of
textiles throughout their life cycle and by becoming
involved in the whole process, we can put our
creativity to work earlier in the system and create
change more broadly and more effectively.
Costs and environmental goalsFarmers

•In the United States, costs of organic cotton

production on the farm are currently 15-20%
higher than conventional, though some organic
farmers are producing greater yields with less
seed planted.

•Farmers depend on credit using the crop as

collateral, and financing organisations can
influence production decisions to minimise
their risk of not being repaid. Consequently,
they favour the predictable yields of chemical
intensive farming methods over organic
farming, and may even deny financing to
organic farmers.

•Growing cotton organically has initial risks for the

farmer. Reduced yields can mean lower returns
on investments in the crop. The incentive of a
higher premium for organic cotton cannot be
realised until a transition period of three years
has been fulfilled (although this regulation has
recently been reviewed at the international
level). Only then can the fibre be labelled
'organic' and command a higher price.

Mills
•The main costs for mills in processing organic
fibre are incurred in cleaning the spinning
machinery between running conventional and
organic cotton. Whole spinning lines are shut
down, air-blown and reset to prevent the
organic fibre from being contaminated with
pesticide residues from the previous
conventional fibre run.

•Until recently only knitting mills were involved

with organic cotton. The construction of a
knitted fabric is much less complex than a
woven fabric and the minimum quantities are
smaller. For a fledgling industry organic cotton
T-shirts and knits have been an obvious first
step. However with product variety limited to
knitted products, cost becomes a major
concern. Who needs a more expensive T-shirt?
Justification of higher prices is indeed a
challenge to communicate to the customer.

Aesthetics and environmental goals

•Clothing represents 70% of the conventional

cotton market and is the main focus of organic
cotton development. Unfortunately, the
cornerstone of the clothing industry is short-
term trend. Organic cotton has enjoyed much
 publicity as part of the early 1990's interest in
eco-fashion, but as trends have changed, so
have many of the businesses and markets for
organic cotton fibre.

•Different size yarns are needed for different

fabrics and each yarn type is spun on a
separate run. A T-shirt may require a 1/20 yarn,
for example, and jeans a 1/10 yarn. A minimum
quantity of yarn is needed to make each
spinning run cost-efficient. If these minimum
quantities are not met, the costs increase
proportionately. Consolidating yarn-types to
increase quantities and improve efficiency,
limits variety for both designer and customer.

• In the conventional cotton industry, fibre from

several different countries is usually blended
together before spinning to achieve consistent
quality over large quantities. With limited
international organic growing, consistent
quality can be a problem in the final fabric.
Combined with the saturation of organic knits
in the eco-clothing market, organic cotton
clothing has gained a reputation for being
unsophisticated, boring and poor quality.

Designers build bridges and create real solutionsIn

the US, the Organic Cotton Conferences, founded
by the California Institute for Rural Studies have
helped to bring manufacturers, mills and farmers
together to discuss the real issues about the organic
cotton industry from farm to marketplace. Through
these conferences and continued dialogue, solutions
are being found which will build an conomically
and ecologically sustainable industry. Design and
research departments have often spearheaded
many of the following solutions, and worked to
influence business managers within an
organisation.

Building bridges with farmersThe main issues

here are the environmental and health effects of
pesticide use, the difficulty in making the transition
from conventional to organic, the costs of organic
production and the difficulty in obtaining financing.

Transitional organic cottonAware of the

environmental and health benefits and interested in
marketing the latest 'hot organic item' to an
increasingly concerned public, many manufacturers
entered the organic cotton market in Spring 1990.
Through the conferences, farmers' difficulties in
making the transition from conventional growing
became apparent. By Autumn 1992, many
manufacturers had purchased transitional organic
cotton, as well as certified organic, in order to
support the farmers in making the change. Grown
organically, and registered in a bona fide certification
programme, transitional organic cotton did not
compromise environmental goals and it helped a
great deal to reach business goals. Commanding
less of a premium than organic, transitional fibre
brought the final cost of the garments down. More
farmers were encouraged to make the shift, and
with increased supply, costs were again reduced.

Pre-harvest contractsLearning of the difficulties

organic farmers had in obtaining financing, and
anticipating that the market interest would generate
increased demand for a fibre in short supply, the
clothing manufacturers Esprit made a pre-harvest
commitment to an agreed quantity of organic
cotton. This move had several advantages. It
provided up-front financing for the farmers,
guaranteed a market for the organic crop, and
secured a reduced price for Esprit as much as 15%
below post-harvest spot-market cotton prices. This
marked a radical departure from the normal way of
working in the textile industry. Clothing business
managers, working with designers, had to
anticipate their retail cotton business and fabric
types an additional year in advance, and purchase
the appropriate qualities of cotton according to a
natural cycle (a once-a-year-harvest), as opposed to
an industrial cycle (twelve retail deliveries a year).

Building bridges with millsThe main issues here

are the production limitations and minimum
quantities, costs and the lack of variety.

Product varietyAs more mills have become

involved in the organic cotton industry,
competition has increased and prices  have tended
to decrease. More importantly, and partly due to
the requests from designers, a greater variety of
fabrics has been possible. This has enabled
manufacturers to provide a range of products and
price points at the retail level, and a perceived
greater value to the customer. Different product
categories command a different retail price-
elasticity.  In other words the customer is reluctant
to pay even 5% more for an organic cotton T-shirt,
but for a well-designed jacket or sweater may pay
as much as 200% more.

Consolidated quantitiesAs product selection has

improved, more parties have become interested in
the industry and consolidated mill quantities have
increased. By now, some mills are able to maintain
a completely separate run of organic cotton, thereby
eliminating their costly shutdown and cleaning
procedures. Some major manufacturers have
discussed potential for bilateral consolidation of
yarn orders with a mill.  Although not yet acted
upon, this would mark a radically different way to
do business in an increasingly competitive industry.

Improved qualityAs experience is gained and the

movement spreads internationally, source variety
will increase and diversity of blends will be
possible, leading to greater consistency in the
quality performance of the yarn and fabric.

Design issuesThe main issues here are cost, 

limited fabric variety from mills and restricted
creativity.    The designer is in a key position to
recognise environmental aspects of processing,
integrate industry possibilities and restrictions, and
at the same time build value into the product. Many
of the aforementioned solutions have been initiated
by designers and research teams bringing the
ecological vision into the business process. The
aesthetic permutations are endless, but the
following example illustrates one of the many
possible scenarios.    A designer could be faced with
the problem of limited fabric variety from the mills. 
A cotton fabric begins as raw fibre which is
'combed' to remove vegetable matter and to align
the fibre before spinning.  At this stage, the fibre can
be dyed and the different colour fibres blended
together, or other fibres such as wool or linen may
be mixed with the cotton to create additional
texture and natural colour variations.  Any one of
these options in fibre form represents a single
'article' for the mill which may, in turn, be spun into
a variety of yarn sizes and twists to create more
potential variety later on in the fabric development
process. After spinning, yarns may be left 'simple'
or 'plied' with other yarns of different sizes, content
or colour to create an infinite variety of end
products.  Weaving these novelty and basic yarns in
different combinations creates greater value in the
eyes of the customer and commands a higher retail
price.     So, by becoming informed about the mill's
restrictions, and  accepting the technical and
commercial restraints, designers can create a
multitude of choices which they would perhaps not
explore if the restrictions did not exist.  In this way,
we can approach environmental constraints as
opportunities to expand, rather than stifle our
creativity.  Moreover, the end of the creative
development process-stying and communication of
the environmental benefits-becomes part of a
complex web of choices made throughout the life
cycle of the product, rather than the  main
determinant for its success or failure in the retail
market. In addition, this way of working creates
opportunities to add visual value at several points
during the  product development process.

ConclusionOrganic cotton is now at a point where

it is being applied company-wide, replacing
conventional cotton products at Patagonia, for
example.    Since the cotton industry has brought
organic products into the mainstream market, the
same principles are now being applied to the wool
and linen industries. This will broaden the organic
movement and increase future opportunities for
variety.    By acknowledging the potential conflict
between environmental objectives, business
objectives and creative objectives, and by building
bridges from each side without compromising basic
principles, innovative solutions can be continuously
discovered. We simply need to apply ourselves to
the task of creative problem-solving. This is the true
essence of design.

Lynda Grose founded the Esprit Ecollection concept. 

She is now based in San Francisco and is an independent
consultant in ecological product development.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No.

28, June 1995, pages 9-11]