Bio Cotton – game changer for a sustainable fashion industry

Hello, I am cotton. I can be a game changer

Fluffy, white cotton is an incredible material. Made by nature, it can be returned to nature by simply composting it*. That’s why Bio Cotton offers everyone an easy opportunity to create a more sustainable future – you just have to dress yourself in it! Which is why we believe in Bio Cotton very strongly. We trust it to lead the way to a more sustainable fashion industry, and to help our planet recover.
*Composting is possible when the product is made of 100% cotton and doesn’t contain any metal or plastic elements.

Things that make us happy: biodiversity

Bio Cotton is cotton that has been grown organically. It is more sustainable, because it avoids a lot of environmental problems that conventional cotton may cause. One example: our soils can’t store enough water and nutrients anymore. This is why with conventional agriculture it gets harder for farmers to get a good harvest in the long term. Organic farming, on the other hand, practices crop rotation: it alternates between the plants that are grown. That way, soils stay healthy and plants grow even stronger, completely without pesticides.

Things that make us happy: change

According to the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), about half of all fabrics worldwide are made of cotton. Imagine what an enormous difference it would make if all of that cotton was produced ecologically! We think that by using more Bio Cotton, we can achieve the biggest results – and that’s why we have been one of the world’s largest buyers of certified organic cotton for the last six years.(1) As a big company, we are aware that our actions can have a big impact and empower the organic cotton sector worldwide.
1 Global Sustainability Report 2018.

Things that make us happy: getting people involved

Of the cotton currently grown worldwide, less than 1% is certified organic. This means there simply isn’t enough organic cotton in the world – otherwise all our products would be 100%Bio Cotton already. As well as working on solutions, we also support initiatives that help conventional cotton farmers become more sustainable. These farmers need new skills and access to certified organic seeds. And not using pesticides and fertilizers can also have a beneficial impact on their health. What’s more, they can benefit from switching to organic cotton: they receive a premium paid for organic cotton instead of conventional cotton.

Things that make us happy: transparency

Our goal is to be using 100% more sustainable cotton by the end of 2021. Also, we want to use more certified organic cotton – right now about half of the cotton in our European collections is Bio Cotton, because there just aren’t enough organic cotton farms to supply us. Every product with a Bio Cotton icon on it is made with a minimum of 70% organically sourced cotton.

Our friends from Fashion for Good had a great idea: what if we could trace our cotton, from its itchy fluffball beginnings when it is picked from the plant – all the way to the tiny soft onesie your baby’s chubby arms and legs are currently sticking out of. “What’s the use?“ you might ask, and here’s the answer: tracing verifies the harvest location.

Even more transparency

And this tracing helps us to further increase our product quality as well as to improve our customer service – because the more we understand, the more we can do. So how did we trace our Bio Cotton? As a pilot scheme, we applied invisible fluorescent, synthetic DNA tracers and microbiome technologies and combined this with blockchain technology. This high-tech experiment wasn’t all us, of course – we worked together with Fashion for Good, Organic Cotton Accelerator and partner organizations like Kering, PVH Corp. and Zalando.

Things that make us happy: easy choices

You may have noticed that our Bio Cotton creations are exactly as affordable as our clothes made from conventional cotton. Here’s why: as a big company, we are able to absorb the extra costs, and we want to do so. In our stores, you won’t have to choose between Bio and conventional cotton for financial reasons. Our mission is to give everyone the opportunity to buy organically sourced cotton if they wish to.