An article published in partnership with Bharat Tex
February 12, 2024
Materials and manufacturing
Brands are setting increasingly aggressive goals for sustainable material sourcing, and 82 percent of the executives surveyed for the United States Fashion Industry Association’s 2023 Benchmarking Report said they would be putting more resources toward “developing or sourcing products using recycled or sustainable textile materials.”
As a major fiber producer, India can support the industry’s eco-friendly material moves.
India is the second largest producer and consumer of cotton globally behind China, producing 5.39 million tons of cotton and consuming 5 million tons in the 2023-2024 crop year. Together, India and China account for about 45 to 50 percent of worldwide crops. Organic cotton is still only about 1 percent of global cotton, but India represents roughly half of this production. According to Textile Exchange data, as of 2020/21, 17 percent of the country’s cotton crops fell under a program such as Better Cotton.