Organic Cotton vs. Recycled Polyester

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…)

Mythbuster: Increased water use of organic cotton?

A little while ago I talked to the head of a well-known snowboard brand who is very much in favor of sustainability and tries to push this topic within the company. Against quite a bit of resistance he manages to overcome some internal obstacles to launch multiple products containing organic cotton. At one of the first press conferences announcing this new move he got some very critical feedback from a, let’s call him “green” journalist that said: “Well, congratulations, you have now moved to a type of garment that uses up even more water than with the previously used classical cotton.”

Since that conversation I was interested to find out if that statement was really true and if organic cotton is not such a good idea afterall. So let’s get to the bottom of the matter.