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GLOBAL ORGANIC TEXTILE STANDARD
ECOLOGY & SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Cottoned-on Campaign's poll confirms the importance of GOTS, consumers name sustainable processing as key issue

cottonedon

The joint Soil Association and GOTS Organic Cotton Campaign 'Have you cottoned on yet' recently commissioned a poll to uncover consumer attitudes to cotton in Germany, USA, UK, India and Italy. Consumers were asked what they think shops should provide more information about with regards to the cotton being used in the clothes they sell, and in all countries polled, except the UK  'Whether or not cotton is turned into fabric and dyed using toxic chemicals' was the most popular answer. In the UK, this was the second most popular answer after 'whether or not cotton is grown with a farming system that also helps farmers to feed their families'. When it came to considering what consumers think clothing companies buying cotton grown on small farms in India and Africa should be concerned about, 'Whether or not cotton is turned into fabric and dyed using toxic chemicals' was again the most popular answer in Germany, USA and Italy. In the UK 'whether or not the farmer gets paid a fair price for their cotton' was the most common issue selected, and in India 'the quality of the cotton' was selected most often.