The move comes as elsewhere in the industry, the rising costs of raw materials, oil and transportation are significantly pushing up prices.

EarthPositive's use of renewable energy means it has not been as badly affected by these pressures, as Continental Clothing director Philip Charles explained: "The uncontrollable rise in the price of oil is causing rapidly spiraling prices for energy, food and transportation, and it is now impacting on our industry," he said. "However, EarthPositive apparel does not reply on oil for its energy, it relies on wind power which is clean, renewable and free; and so not only is EarthPositive not putting up its prices, it is actually reducing them - by over 10%."

He added: "When we were doing our carbon footprinting study, we were able to identify energy savings and efficiencies in the supply chain, which lowered the manufacturing cost. We are now passing that saving on to our customers - and EarthPositive organic cotton T-shirts are now the same price as Continental conventional cotton T-shirts."

Continental Clothing believes the gap between conventional and organic cotton is now closing, but it urged more companies to make use of the ‘organic in conversion' cotton. This is cotton grown on land which has only recently been converted to organic (typically less than two to three years) and where, although no chemical pesticides and fertilisers are being used, residues may still be found in the soil.

Mariusz Stochaj, head of products, said: "The long term problem is that unless people buy organic in conversion cotton, the demand for organic is growing faster than the supply base, which is putting a price pressure on the commodity market. We need to expand the supply base by supporting the conversion products."

Stochaj suggested that companies could start including conversion fabric in their ranges, without necessarily isolating it.

"For instance, 10% of the cotton used across your entire range could be organic in conversion, then next year that could be increased to 20% and so on, but don't ring fence that conversion fabric," he said.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---