Cotton outlook: News. Data. Analysis.

 


In this, our sixth Special Feature celebrating World Cotton Day, we take stock of some of the developments that have occurred in the industry in terms of sustainability during the past 12 months. We examine the vital promotion of all that is good about our natural fibre, while highlighting pressing issues such as climate change, pollution, and cotton’s declining market share in the face of polyester and fast fashion. World Cotton Day, marked annually on October 7th, provides an opportunity for all those involved in cotton to not only celebrate the biodegradable, natural fibre that clothes us and provides key employment across the globe, but also to collaborate on how to shape a future in which the environment, biodiversity, and farmers’ and workers’ livelihoods are protected, and where fewer and fewer oil-based synthetic textiles accumulate at waste sites, shedding microplastics that pollute the earth. This year, founding organisations will gather in Rome to mark the occasion, under the banner “The Fabric of Our Lives”, to explore opportunities and challenges for the sector. Meanwhile, across the world everyone is invited to celebrate and promote cotton in their own way, so that the benefits of cotton can be known to all. We are delighted to be able to share the thoughts and perspectives of people from different parts of the cotton and textiles supply chain on sustainability, traceability and advocacy, and we are truly thankful for the time and expertise put to producing such insightful contributions to this publication. Happy World Cotton Day 2025!

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