Printwear & Promotion The Total Promotional Package
According to the Soil Association’s Organic Market Report, Soil Association Certification licensees have seen sales increase by 30% to £28m.
A key growth driver is that more and more consumers now recognise the importance of organic when making ethical and sustainable purchasing decisions. Overall, the UK organic market is evolving from food into lifestyle and future predictions show there will be greater crossover between people who buy organic food and non-food items including textiles and health and beauty products.
In the clothing sector sales (ladies and mens) have increased by 26%, with steady growth across fashion. An emerging area is clothing for music festivals, universities and staff uniforms in organic and ethically-led restaurants and cafes.
Many innovative and bespoke sportswear brands are launching into the market where organic cotton is a core part of the offer.
Babywear is another growing sector with sales up by 5%. Children’s wear is still the largest textiles category in the UK with steady growth continuing through great brands and design, as well as increases in sales for babywear.
Clare McDermott, business development director at Soil Association Certification said: “It’s a really positive time for organic – from cotton to wool and all other textiles. Particularly as we’re starting to see more products being produced in the UK including ranges from Jigsaw and John Lewis. Organic supply chains are also strengthening and the number of Global Organic Textiles Standard (GOTS)-certified facilities increased by 4% in 2016, the fourth year of growth.”
Globally, the organic cotton market is also booming. Figures from Textile Exchange show that companies grew sales of organic cotton by 56% in 2016. The most growth, at 40%, comes from luxury, family and fashion items. Now, the market is worth $15.76 billion US globally.
The organic market report revealed the overall UK organic market is now in its fifth year of strong growth and worth £2.09 billion.
