Standard Cotton and Organic Cotton: Everything You Need to Know to Understand the Differences

Cotton is one of the most used natural fibres in the textile industry thanks to its age-old processing and its many characteristics.

It is a textile fiber of natural origin, obtained from plants of the genus Gossypium. Its cultivation is placed far back in time: since the early stages of civilization, man has used these plants for various uses. Typical of the regions of Central Asia, the cotton plant is linked to the evolutionary processes of agriculture but it is above all with the Industrial Revolution and its technological innovations that the cultivation of cotton reaches massive levels and production costs, which over the centuries have grown more and more until reaching particularly high levels, and therefore harmful, in recent decades.

A look at global production

According to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) in a 2022 report, 45-50% of world cotton production from 2010 to 2020 is satisfied by the two main producers India and China, followed by the two Eastern giants the USA and Brazil: together these four countries cover 70-75% of world cotton production.
These are dangerously high numbers related to cotton production that have attracted the attention of scientists, farmers and governments around the world over the last few decades.
Although it can be defined as a natural fibre, in fact, cotton is produced through techniques that are highly damaging to the environment: the use of genetically modified seeds, pesticides, insecticides and excessive water resources are in fact widely employed to achieve increasingly intensive profits by the major cotton producers.

The history of the Aral Sea has therefore become emblematic: what was once the largest saltwater lake in the world is now drastically dried up due to the policies of intensive cotton cultivation introduced by the USSR starting from the middle of the last century. Not only that, the area surrounding the lake currently has a structure polluted by the intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers that have modified the entire ecosystem causing, among other things, an increase in population mortality.

Innovation and Sustainability: Organic Cotton is Born

For this reason, in Europe it has been necessary to adopt organic cultivation policies that are able to change the curve of eco-sustainability in agricultural production. Standard cotton is flanked by organic cotton - also called organic - which by definition must respect particular methods and techniques during all stages of production and distribution including: the protection of biodiversity, the total limitation of genetically modified organisms and products derived from them, the use of renewable energy resources, the total limitation of fertilizers and annual rotation techniques of the land to maintain and prepare a natural fertility of the soil.

	Standard Cotton	Organic Cotton
pesticides	YES	NO
GMO	YES	NO
huge water resources	YES	YES
synthetic fertilizers	YES	NO
organic fertilization	NO	YES
intensive cultivation	YES	NO
land rotation	NO	YES
use of toxic dyes	YES	NO
exploitation of workers	YES	NO
protection of farmers and workers	NO	YES
certification required	NO	YES
high production costs	NO	YES

The table summarizes the main differences related to the production and consumption of standard cotton and organic cotton. In addition to the cultivation techniques, attention must be paid to how the production of the latter is closely linked to a correct remuneration of the wage labor and the protection of workers who are supported by governments and encouraged to constantly improve. Furthermore, organic cotton must be certified by definition - in this article of our blog we talked about eco-sustainable certifications - and this increases the already higher production costs, which also affect the final buyers.

Present and Future: New Important Choices

The use and consumption of organic cotton is not intended to completely replace standard cotton: the entire problem of this natural fibre lies in its intensive production. Organic cotton is, rather, part of an idea of ​​a textile industry that is close to the ideals of environmental sustainability and slow fashion. It is useful to highlight the differences between these two types of cotton to increase buyer awareness not only of individual items of clothing but also of companies and brands that decide whether or not to adopt organic cotton in their production line.