Cotton is the world’s most popular natural fiber, grown by over 24 million cotton growers and involving 100 million families worldwide.
While cotton farmers and workers are indispensable to the global fashion industry, they are largely excluded from conversations and stories around sustainability. To understand and transform the fashion and textile industry, we need their perspectives and stories, and we need to grapple with the social and ecological issues around cotton.
Cotton At The Source is a project led by Cotton Diaries and A Growing Culture, in collaboration with journalists, storytellers and cotton farmer communities. We seek to reframe narratives, place farmers at the centre, and recognise the solutions they are driving forward.
Fashion begins in the hands of farmers. Let’s tell their stories.
Far from the buzz of fashion week and fashion’s flashy exterior — communities around the world are already growing cotton in ways that provide dignified livelihoods, climate resilience and food sovereignty. In this Stories From the Ground booklet, we feature three stories from Brazil, Benin and India, highlighting examples of promising community-powered solutions.
Who’s this booklet for?
Professionals in fashion and textile industries
Editors and storytellers looking for on-the-ground stories ideas
Climate and social justice activists looking to learn from holistic and community-centred solutions
Our invitation to Media
Narratives about cotton have become narrow and simplistic. Whether it’s a viral story about a fast fashion brand praised for its most sustainable denim collection ever, or cotton being a “thirsty” crop, we can agree there’s more to the story of cotton and sustainability than what’s portrayed. With a growing demand and interest in sustainable clothes, journalists and storytellers have the responsibility to look beyond the surface and have the power to influence holistic solutions.
Watch the recording of our Press events and download our Media toolkit below!
Media Workshop
On March 5th 2024 we held a workshop, where fashion and environmental journalists and cotton experts shared tools and newly developed frameworks to cover the cotton industry through a more holistic lens.
Available in English, Portuguese and French.
Media Toolkit
Our Media toolkit aims to equip journalists and storytellers with the knowledge and tools to tell better stories about cotton.
Press Forum
On March 19th we heard directly from farmers and communities in India, Brazil and Benin. Through their deep understanding of the interconnections between land, climate, biodiversity, cultural knowledge and farmworkers’ rights, they showed us what hopeful, potential pathways forward can look like.
The Press Forum recording will be soon available. Stay tuned!
Learn more about Cotton Diaries and A Growing Culture.