An insightful article about the different environmental impact of cotton and polyester fiber production. It concludes that recycled polyester fiber, produced from existing polyester products, is possibly more sustainable than organic cotton fiber.

We are facing climate change, resource depletion, and full landfills. Maybe it’s time to think about recyclable even more than about renewable. And as the study concludes: recycled polyester fiber “produced from existing polyester textile products, meets or exceeds the quality of virgin polyester” even after recycling it multiple times, over and over again. The downfall: Production seems to be still very expensive – but with dwindling petroleum supply on the horizon it might be a good (first) move to go down that road. (Patagonia already does it…)

Go here to read the full study from Coral Rose with the University of Arkansas:
http://coralrose.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/07/polyester-vs-co.html