The retail sales of organic cotton clothes and home textile products recorded 63% growth worldwide in 2008 with retailers firmly committed to their sustainability plans.
Organic Exchange, a non-profit organization, said in its report, “The Organic Cotton Market Report”, that the retail sales of home textile products and organic cotton apparel grew 63% globally to $3.2 Billion in 2008, as reported by REUTERS.
According to the report, most of the brands and organic cotton products retailers are sticking to their sustainability strategies despite gloomy retail outlook. They are optimistic of the market growth are planning to make 24% and 33% expansion in product lines during 2009 and 2010 respectively. This will take the market value to an estimated figure of $4 Billion in 2009 and $5.3 Billion in 2010. Also, the 2008 Organic Cotton Farm and Fiber Report says that globally, the number of organic cotton farmers surged 152% in 2007/08.
Organic farming is better than other farming practices as it maintains and restores soil fertility without making use of chemical compositions, pesticides and genetically modified seeds. Some of the renowned organic cotton retailers in the US are Anvil Knitwear Inc, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Greensource, Pottery Barn and Nike Inc. Apart from the US retailers, Germany’s Hess Natur, Zara of Spain’s Inditex, Coop Switzerland and Belgium’s C&A have carved niche for themselves in the global organic cotton industry.
The uptrend in sales indicates that despite low financial forecasts, retailers and brands are firmly standby their commitment of making their product portfolio more sustainable by integrating organic cotton and other organic fibers like wool, silk and linen.
LaRhea Pepper, Senior Director, Organic Exchange, said “Farmers who planted on speculation or expanded without market partners may have shifted the market into a state of oversupply in 2009”, as reported FashionUnited on April 2, 2009.
Pepper further said, “Brands may want to explore opportunities for expanding their organic programs with their business partners as for the first time in many years, supplies of organic fiber, yarns, and fabrics are more available than in previous years.”
According to a Research Analyst at RNCOS, “Unlike the purchasing of organic food for health benefits, purchasing of organic clothing is more of philosophical and emotional decision, particularly in a gloomy economic environment. However, it has been observed in the US, Western Europe and some parts of Asia that consumers are going for the purchase of organic cotton in large numbers than earlier.”
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