Organic Cotton
Definition
Organic cotton is a certified natural fibre that has been grown without synthetic chemicals and cultivated from non-genetically modified plants. Producers of organic cotton embrace environmentally sustainable practices, making better or more efficient use of resources such as water, alongside improved welfare and labour standards for workers.
Production
Cotton is the world’s largest non-food industrial crop and is grown in tropical and subtropical regions across the globe. The use of cotton as a material dates back at least 8,000 years and was widely cultivated and utilised across its native regions of India, Africa and South America. In 2024, the top cotton producers were China (24%), India (23%), Brazil (13%) and USA (11%), accounting for the bulk of the approximately 26 million tonnes of cotton harvested in each year.1 Of this, organic cotton accounts for 1-2%, with growth in production currently anticipated at 37% year on year. The main producers of organic cotton are India (38%), Turkey (24%), China (10%) and Kyrgyzstan (9%).2
Successful cotton cultivation requires high levels of sunshine and moderate levels of rainfall. Both are generally met within cotton’s natively grown regions, although as a crop it is considered to be very water-intensive when compared to other natural fibres such as hemp. Organic cotton fields in India and Western Africa are often entirely rain-fed and therefore help reduce the region’s water footprint, whereas a large proportion of the cotton industry is cultivated in areas with lower levels of rainfall where additional water is obtained through irrigation. Poor irrigation and cultivation practices have led to areas of desertification in Central Asia where cotton is a major national export.3