Though organic cotton has less environmental impact than conventional cotton, it costs more to produce. Side-effects of conventional production that are avoided in organic growing methods include:

• High levels of agrochemicals are used in the production of non-organic, conventional cotton. Cotton production uses more chemicals per unit area than any other crop and accounts in total for 16% of the world's pesticides.
• The chemicals used in the processing of cotton pollute the air and surface waters.
• Residual chemicals may irritate consumers' skin.
• The conventional cotton industry relies on a high level of forced child labor.

Naturally colored cotton has also been grown successfully with organic methods.

A few clothing brand use organic cotton 100 percent, including Patagonia, People Tree, Stella McCartney, and Botanica. A few clothing companies have begun to produce lines using organic cotton, including American Apparel Organics, 4-rth, Organic by Nature, and Mountain Equipment Co-op.

Regional

Organic cotton is currently being grown successfully in many countries; the largest producers (as of 2007) are Turkey, India and China.Organic Trade Association

Organic cotton production in Africa takes place in at least 8 countries. The earliest producer (1990) was the SEKEM organization in Egypt; the farmers involved later convinced the Egyptian government to convert 400,000 hectares of conventional cotton production to integrated methods, achieving a 90% reduction in the use of synthetic pesticides in Egypt and a 30% increase in yields.

See also

• Fair trade
• Sustainable fashion
• Organic clothing
• Organic Baby Products

External links

• Global Organic Cotton Community
• Corporate Social Repsonsibility Fashion Community
• WearOrganic - The one-stop information centre for organic cotton
• dmoz: Science/Agriculture/Field_Crops/Fiber_Crops/Cotton/
• Organic Exchange