International organic cotton trade conference

More than 188 participants ranging from producers to retailers and hailing from 27 countries travelled to Portugal to attend the sixth Organic Exchange world trade conference that was held in Porto from 14 – 17 October 2008. The conference programme included a visit to the Teviz Group’s textile factory in Guimarães - one of the first textile manufacturers in the world to be certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard. (Picture: Manuel Pires from Teviz Group shows his products to the British textile designer Dr. Kate Fletcher)
The main topics of the conference were: transparency in the supply chain, certification according to the new standard, better cooperation between producers and purchasers, and the role played by organic cotton in participating companies’ approach to climate change, CO2 emissions, water consumption and population growth.

The managing director of Organic Exchange, LaRhea Pepper (picture), said: “At this conference there has been an exchange of ideas, and partnerships have been established that will shape the textile industry in the years ahead.” She added that they were now much more rapidly approaching the goal of sustainability. Organic Exchange is an international organisation with its headquarters in the USA. Its mission is the promotion of the organic textile industry.

To coincide with the conference, Organic Exchange published its “Organic Cotton Farm and Fiber Report 2008” that demonstrated among other things that in 2007/08 the level of organic cotton produced in 22 countries worldwide rose to 145,872 tons (668,581 bales) in 2007/08 compared with 57,932 tons (265,517 bales) the year before (+152 %). India, Syria, Turkey, China, Tanzania, the USA, Uganda, Peru, Egypt and Burkino Faso were the top ten organic cotton producers, with India taking over the long-held lead from Turkey. Rising world demand for organic cotton from both small and large-scale retailers has stimulated this growth.

Organic Exchange estimates that in 2008/09 there will be 54 % growth in organic cotton production. Despite the economic slowdown, it is also anticipating further growth of the industry as a whole in 2008, since consumer interest in “green” products has not diminished. (Picture: Organic cotton thread produced by Teviz)

Organic Exchange was founded in 2002 to promote the worldwide supply of organic cotton. Working closely together with farmers, brand manufacturers, retailers and their business partners, the organisation operates aid programmes to support organic cotton cropping. In December 2008, Organic Exchange is going to set up training in Denmark, and the following year regional events and meetings for manufacturers and producers will be held: in February 2009 in India, in March in Germany, in April in Peru, in May in Egypt, in June in the Netherlands, in September in Great Britain and in December in Sweden. The seventh “Organic Exchange Global Conference and Marketplace” will take place in Seattle/USA in October 2009.

You can now buy clothes made from organic cotton in many chains stores like H&M, Marks and Spencer, C&A and even in smaller chains like NKD in Germany. A new store in Munich is a practical example of how the organic clothes sector is developing in the specialist trade. In Munich Brigitte von Puttkamer (picture) is running one of about ten shops countrywide that specialise in natural textiles. The 40 m2 shop was opened in April 2008 in a residential area in the trendy Glockenbach district. She sells clothes, accessoires and shoes for women and babies. The clothes are supplied by small producers in Germany, and from the USA and China. The name of the shop, on a pink sign above the entrance, is “Glore” – standing for ‘global responsibility’. There is another Glore-shop in Nuremberg that was launched just under two years ago by Bernd Hausmann. The two shops collaborate with each other, although they are financially separate operations.

“We are consciously avoiding the ‘eco-look’; we want a modern and trendy image,” is how Brigitte von Puttkamer explains her sales strategy. “I want to appeal to people too who didnot yet "discover" organic,” she says. She stocks around 500 articles made from organic raw materials, and under fairtrade conditions or produced from recycled materials. (Picture: Glore in Munich’s Gärtnerplatz-district)

Six months after the launch, she has 80 regular customers. Her advertising consists of various articles that have been written about her in newspapers and magazines, and the e-mails that she sends out to 350 interested individuals. Apart from this, she relies on word of mouth.

The labels she stocks for children are Hut up produced by a felt manufacturer in Berlin, Veja sneakers from Paris made out of natural rubber, organic cotton and vegatable tanned leather, produced in Brasilia, Terra Plana shoes (also made from organically tanned leather), fashion for babies made by Imps & Elfs and clothes and bags made by Luxusbaba from recycled material, produced in the sewing Weißer Rabe. Kuyichi is a manufacturer in the Netherlands supplying young fashions and jeans. Other brands are on sale as well, and shop owner Brigitte von Puttkamer is always willing and able to supply details of what is available.

Tip: http://www.glore.de