Cotton Summit teaches attendees about sustainability
Cotton is natural, renewable and biodegradable.
Published Sept. 24, 2010
The Textile and Apparel Management department hosted the Sustainable Cotton Summit on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Donald W. Reynolds Alumni Center. Industry professionals spoke on sustainability in textiles, specifically cotton, at each of the seven sessions.
Co-organizer and TAM assistant professor Jung Ha-Brookshire said an estimated 150 to 200 people attended each of the sessions.
Many of the attendees were TAM students who were required to attend one session for each TAM class in which they were enrolled.
“Students have the chance to be exposed to this type of perspective, beyond organic, a more balanced view,” she said.
The sessions explored the cotton industry from three different perspectives: as a fiber, product and the incorporation of the consumer. Among others, attendees heard from cotton farmers, small businesses and large corporations about their efforts toward sustainability.
“It was cool to hear about the statistics and the grower’s perspective,” senior TAM major Lynnette Yarger said. “I didn’t even know that there were cotton farmers in southern Missouri.”
Cotton farmers spoke on advances in technology, specifically in machinery. These tools are more expensive, but the farmers purchase them because of their efficiency.
One session with a large turn out from students was “Shades of the Green Consumer,” given by Genessa Devine, Market Intelligence Corporate Strategy and Program Metrics manager.
“We do reach out to the consumer with environmental messages about cotton, but the great opportunity for improving cotton’s environmental footprint is within the global supply chain,” Devine said.
Devine described the different levels, or “shades,” of the "green consumer.”
Through research, Cotton Incorporated has found the majority of consumers are more likely to act in sustainable ways if there is the added bonus of saving money, she said.
“Environmental friendliness isn’t always the primary purchase driver,” Devine said.
MU students and Columbia residents have a direct connection to the industry right here in Columbia. Mustard Seed is a nonprofit fair trade retail store on Ninth Street.
Like “environmentally friendly” products, fair trade products are oftentimes more expensive. But, some include premiums in the price in order to give scholarships and other things back to the local community where the good originated, Mustard Seed Executive Director Jessica Canfield said.
“As sustainable manufacturers become more and more widespread, environmental friendliness will become inherent and the need to market products as sustainable, and at a premium, will likely become less common,” Devine said.
The Sustainable Cotton Summit informed attendees of the various steps between the cotton field and the everyday T-shirt in a sustainable way, from gathering the cotton to the dyes used and the way the cotton is spun and manufactured. They were also challenged to make sustainable decisions.
Right now it is 7 percent more expensive on average to buy a product with environmentally friendly terms attached, said Devine. Most people are tight on money in this economy, especially college students, but the small price increase might mean a large payoff for the environment and workers abroad.
“Cotton is here,” Brookshire said. “It is natural, renewable, biodegradable and therefore can be sustainable. I wanted students to appreciate it more accurately.”