The event awakened our sense of responsibility. Employees Country Email List of the organization got headaches from poor ventilation and harmful fumes from new clothing. Patagonia communicates openly and honestly about it. And the company shows how Country Email List it handles it. It was the first sign on the wall for the cotton production and processing by the clothing producer at the time. Patagonia's attitude The story continues with the company's previous Country Email List attitude towards raw materials for clothing production: Years before no one at Patagonia thought about the need to stop using conventional cotton.
Cotton had a reputation as being a natural and Country Email List healthy alternative to synthetic fabrics. What could be bad about something that started out as a plant? The company went along with the idea that cotton was a natural and healthy alternative to Country Email List synthetics. That turned out not to be true: A few years later, we commissioned an independent assessment of the environmental impacts of the fibers most commonly used in clothes, including Country Email List cotton. We learned that conventional cotton fields—while comprising only 2.5 percent of the world's cultivated land—used 22.5 percent of chemical insecticides and 10 percent of pesticides used in agriculture. With this example, the company shows that it has progressive insight. Cotton production is polluting and especially in view of the ubiquitous use of pesticides, bad for nature.
That is why the organization describes that Country Email List in the mid-90s it converted its entire clothing line to organic cotton. That was not without a struggle: The decision to drop conventional cotton caused a quiet revolt throughout the ranks, which was understandable as we had to create our own organic cotton supply chain. Patagonia communicates openly Country Email List about mistakes made and about advancing insight. This has a positive effect on the image of the organization, because all stories can be directly related to the core values of the company. In this case, the story of the transformation from traditional cotton to organic cotton shows.