With The Sprouting Of Organic Clothing, Will The Garment Industry Step Into The Organic Era?

It was six years ago that David bason received a call from WAL-MART supermarket, a telephone that all manufacturers dreamed of.

As the chief executive of the company, Mr. Greensource Organic Clothing Company has recently shipped a number of Yoga suit tops to WAL-MART supermarket's branch store, the "Sam club".

At first, the Sam club's purchasers only wanted to use the organic concept of the Seattle clothing manufacturer to label the products of the supermarkets. They did not think the clothes would be much more popular than the conventional fabrics.

However, in just three weeks, 200 thousand Yoga jacket tops were sold out.

The company executives at WAL-MART headquarters heard about the matter and immediately decided to contact the company of bassoon.

Speaking of the situation at that time, bason was still fresh in memory. "Mr. Lee Scott, chief executive of WAL-MART, told his men to call us to talk with him."

So, bason and several partners flew long distances for more than 1600 miles to the WAL-MART headquarters in Benton Ville, Arkansas.

Bason did not expect the company to be established in less than five years, and he had already had the opportunity to meet with the most influential executives in the world in the conference room of WAL-MART, President of the global retail chain giant. He recalled, "at that time, we met Mr. Scott.

It was a very interesting meeting, sitting opposite, and the other high-level Wal-Mart Store Inc. "

This is a doomed cooperation.

A few weeks later, bassoon delivered 800 thousand sets of baby cotton crepe suits with organic cotton fabrics (with buttons of baby clothes) to WAL-MART supermarket.

Then, WAL-MART ordered the order again. This time it is an order for organic sheets and organic towels.

Soon, the famous chain corporation Messi also had interest in Luyuan's organic clothing, followed by Sears and Karl's department store (Kohl 's).

Today, Greensource Organic Clothing Company has grown into the eighth largest producer of organic clothing in the world with an annual revenue of over US $500 million.

Bassoon believes that with the growing attention of the major clothing retailers to organic clothing, it is only a matter of time for organic clothing to become the mainstream of the market. Here, the concrete definition of "organic" refers to the use of no chemical fertilizer or insect repellent, from seeds to agricultural products (000061) all natural pollution-free cotton production.

"Consumers are well aware of the environmental problems we face and we want to join the ranks of protecting the earth's environment," said bason. "Once they choose organic clothing, they will become a loyal supporter and will not go back."

Perhaps you would think: as an organic clothing manufacturer, bason of course is not stingy about promoting the prospect of organic clothing.

It is understandable to think so, but a lot of data have already told us that the organic clothing business of Bassoon is indeed a great deal.

Perhaps not long ago, when it comes to organic clothing, people immediately associate the hippie image of Woodstock: they are wearing linen cotton belt, wearing Bokun Baotou shoes, squatting their favorite granola sheets to flaunt their natural and environmental lifestyle.

This scene was popular in that era, but it has long been away from the reality of organic clothing today.

According to the data of the organic cotton trade association of the International Organic Textile Organization, in 2008 ~2009, the expenditure on clothing and domestic textiles was reduced by 7 percentage points due to the global recession, while the sales of organic cotton increased by two digit, or 35%.

In fact, the average annual sales growth rate of organic cotton in recent ten years has been maintained at around 40% since 2001.

At present, the output value of global organic clothing is around us $4 billion 300 million, and next year, that is, 2011, this figure will reach US $6 billion.

Indeed, if we consider that the total value of clothing sold worldwide in the United States is only 188 billion dollars a year, organic clothing is only a drop in the ocean.

Some people may think that organic clothing is only a special hobby of some environmental fanatics. Should these sceptics think back a little? Just a few years ago, the rise of organic food was similarly questioned.

In 2000, organic food was only a $6 billion small industry, and last year Americans consumed $24 billion in organic food.

"Compared with organic food, the development of organic clothing has almost lagged behind for ten years."

Larry, Pepel, an organic cotton grower in 50 hectares of land outside Texas, said, "I have been engaged in organic cotton cultivation for 20 years. In the 90s of last century, the brand of real organic clothing was very poor.

Now, there are 75 large clothing brands and retailers engaged in this industry.

Pepel is right.

Since 2005, most of the major clothing companies have joined the ranks of the production of organic clothing, many of which are world-renowned brands such as Levi's (Levi) s, Adidas (Adidas) and Nike (Nike), as well as many top fashion retailers, such as H& M, Target, Nodes Tron, Gap, of course, including WAL-MART mentioned earlier.

As Kathrina Conti, executive vice president of AnwilKnitwear, a clothing wholesaler, said, "in the past five years, we have found that people firmly support organic clothing, so it is time for the garment manufacturers to act and join in the trend.

This year's enthusiasm for organic cotton is unprecedented.

Organic clothing sprout

Since these consumers of organic cotton are regarded as followers of the pharaohs of Jesus, Kaiser and Tutankhamen, why do so many mainstream brands suddenly decide to turn to this field?

The use of chemical products for many years has made more and more Americans willing to return to a more natural way of life.

AMP's market survey shows that more than half of the consumers in the United States take the sustainability of their products into the factors of their purchase decisions. The findings of CapStrat's public policy also show that one of every ten consumers influences the environment and society as the primary criterion for choosing a purchase.

Mr. Michael Kubury, vice president of corporate social and environmental sustainability at Levi's, the world's leading jeans producer, said: "the above consumer behavior survey makes it difficult for us to ignore these new developments in the market". This has prompted Levi's to launch the "Eco" jeans series four years ago, a new product line made of one hundred percent recycled organic cotton.

The largest garment retail companies in the United States, GAAP, began selling 100% organic cotton t-shirts in 2007, which they attributed to "our customers' interest in products with a sense of social responsibility" in a press release.

Also in 2007, Adidas's sporting goods manufacturer Adidas's environmental protection series "better home" began to sell on the shelves. This is a product line of "sustainable performance" built with renewable materials and organic cotton. Adidas global social and environmental affairs chief Frank Henk explained: "we soon found that consumers have demand for products produced in an environmentally friendly way."

But making organic clothing is not as simple as it seems.

First of all, procurement of raw materials is a headache.

You know, most cotton growers are still using chemical fertilizers and insect repellent. Buying organic cotton is a very complicated and difficult process.

The high cost of organic cotton is also a thorny problem.

According to bason, "the choice of organic cotton as raw material has increased clothing business by only 20% of yarn expenditure. This puts us in a dilemma, either to raise the retail price or to sacrifice the profit margin of the product.

Nowadays buyers and sellers are highly sensitive to price, and any choice will inevitably cause the interests of one side to be infringed.

Therefore, clothing traders usually need to compromise between price and profit.

"The key to choice is to balance the balance between quantity and unit price," he said.

Consumers are psychologically prepared to spend more money on environmentally friendly products, but they can't be too expensive.

They are willing to pay for the lifestyle they advocate, but cost performance is always a key factor in their decision making.

Mr. Kolb of Levi's also added: "as long as our products meet consumer expectations and fashion and quality, they will be willing to consume organic clothing."

In other words, although more and more consumers are interested in organic cotton products, to make them really pay for organic clothing, it is also necessary to see the brand's marketing strategy -- successful sales to explain clearly to customers why they choose organic products.

As MS. Conti of anville said, "consumers are more and more concerned about the impact of products on the environment, but the clothing business is also responsible for clearly expressing the importance of organic clothing for the protection of the environment."

Levi's's marketing strategy is a good example.

The brand supports organic fiber materials and is an integral part of its new eco protection initiatives. Levi's has joined many fashion brands in the "quality cotton program".

The brand uses various marketing methods to promote sales in stores, so as to enhance people's interest in buying natural clothing, including new window displays, add signs of care on jeans, encourage consumers to wash with cold water, avoid drying machines, advocate natural air drying, and donate worn jeans to charities.

Michael Kolb said, "we need to think of ways to let customers understand the source of the quality cotton program and Levi's's environmental commitment, which is a crucial link in organic clothing marketing."

Adidas, also a member of the high quality cotton program, has struggled to educate consumers.

The green area of the official website of the brand has such a title: "would you ask yourself," what can I do to make the earth better? "Frank Henk talked about the origin of the" better home "program." several of our product managers have asked themselves the same questions, so they decided to launch this series.

Our brand promises consumers' to provide the products they have been looking for ', and the use of organic cotton is one of the promises we are trying to fulfill. "

But Henk also acknowledged, "now, it seems that the customers who are really interested in this product are only a few."

Act in a timely fashion

Market demand for organic cotton is indeed increasing, though not very large.

Mrs. Conti of Anwell agrees with this view.

She believes that the trend of organic clothing is the result of multiple factors: of course, this is due to the love of the earth first.

Secondly, after experiencing the financial tsunami in Wall Street, many brands realized the importance of "law first".

A good corporate social responsibility and the image of protecting the environment are the performance of the company's "self-discipline", which of course includes the conversion from ordinary cotton production to organic cotton production.

Conti concluded: "the credibility of corporate image is the foundation of all things."

If conti is right, that explains why some clothing brands need to draw a line with "floating green".

To avoid any criticism in this respect, manufacturers not only provide certification of organic cotton (GOTS global organic textile certification standard is the most authoritative touchstone), but also provide the origin of organic cotton to consumers.

For example, a customer bought an organic T-shirt produced by Luyuan company from WAL-MART supermarket. He would find a string of code on the label of his clothes, then log on to the official website of Greensourceorganic.com and input the code. He could know exactly where the organic cotton was produced, who planted it, who planted it, planting time and harvest time and other information.

Adidas also provides a similar tracking service for organic cotton raw materials.

"This raw material tracking system is easy for consumers to convince," says bason. "It's hard for conventional fabrics to do that."

The future is approaching.

Of course, apart from the pioneer brands like Nike and Patagonia, not all organic clothing companies have made one hundred percent of organic cotton.

Pepel complained that some brands were just putting on airs. Most of the products were still using ordinary cotton, and only a few of them were organic.

"I went to a shop in polis, Minnesota, and they advocated a reduction in personal carbon footprint, but only a small number of organic T-shirts were sold, most of them were regular clothes," complained Kang Ni mins of the organic food consumer association.

The processing of organic clothing is often criticized.

Maybe a lot.

However, although the development of organic clothing is now a gradual process, and there are many problems, but most of the organic cotton advocates are better than none. But the clothing manufacturers also said that such a great change can not be achieved overnight. At least one thing we know very well that changes are taking place. Levi's's Kolb said: "organic cotton will become a consumer's necessity in less than ten years. What we are doing now is to seize the opportunity in the organic era."