German version

The festive season is finally here and the next Friday is the Black Friday everyone loves. It might be difficult to see past the excitement of being offered huge discounts. It’s seductive but it is nothing more than an unofficial holiday that celebrates consumerism. Black Friday and Cyber Monday (which happens on the following Monday) are one of the most profitable times of the year for retailers. They are the time of year that the fashion industry encourages hyper-consumption with heavily-discounted marketing which leads people into buying things they don’t need just for the safe of a bargain. It generates huge volumes of waste as items are returned or thrown away after a short period of time, contributing to throw-away culture.

To make it worse, the majority of brands send returned items straight to landfill or incineration. Luxury brands, for example, has been criticised for throwing deadstocks and returned items away to avoid risk damaging the prestige of their brand by selling at a discount. While all customers certainly have the right to return an item that isn’t suitable for them, that doesn’t mean that the industry should encourage the harmful practice of excessive returns and consumers shouldn’t abuse the system by buying items knowing that they will be returned surely.

Another issue is that e-commerce giants with $1 billion annual sales perform better than smaller shops during Black Friday. In 2019, while 93.2 million consumers made a purchase online on Black Friday, Amazon counted for 50.9% of all sales on Black Friday in the U.S. And while smaller online retailers have only seen a 27% growth, online giants have seen a 62% boost in sales.

Perhaps things are starting to look better, though. With all the climate change protests and the declaration of climate change emergencies by countries around the world, consumers are starting to re-evaluate their shopping habits. According to new research, 67% of UK consumers are going to pay attention to the sustainability efforts of retail brands during Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas shopping. And 78% of UK shoppers stated that whether or not brands clearly communicate their sustainability efforts will have “somewhat” of an impact over where they will shop, and 47% stated that they aren’t planning to spend during the Black Friday weekend.

Black Friday at l’amour est bleu

As a sustainable brand, we believe we must approach things differently and encourage people to shop and consume fashion locally and sustainably. We want people to know that every one of your mindful purchases can create a great impact on the community and the environment.

By buying a sustainable item from a local, actually sustainable brand (instead of buying clothes from “conscious collection” from H&M), you can empower the people in the supply chain, minimise the environmental harm, support local, independent businesses while keeping the money within your community or region, instead of giving the profit to multi-national companies abroad, and there are more positive impacts that could be generated by a single mindful purchase. It is truly amazing to see so much positive change on the horizon.

On Black Friday this year, we decided to sell returned items and samples at a discounted price. Doing so allows us to avoid wasting returned items, all these items required natural and human resources to be produced and we want them to be worn and enjoyed by our customers. And we trust our customers will cherish our garments that are sewn by seamstresses in Berlin from sustainable materials as well as make them last.

And please keep in mind, there’s nothing wrong to purchase a sustainable item you have been wanting and waiting for to be on sale, however, it’s problematic to purchase unsustainable items, especially from fast-fashion retailers, just because it’s on sale.

To shop our ARCHIVE SALE, you will need to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the acces link. You can subscribe for the newsletter here: https://lamourestbleu.com.

Also, if you’d like to learn more about the environmental impact of online shopping, check out our blog post here.

German version

Nowadays, organic cotton is not just for rich people but is for everyone who understands the importance of sustainability. Organic cotton plays an important role in protecting all livings from the impacts of chemicals and climate change as well as ensuring safe and fair working conditions for the people in the supply chain. 

There was significant growth in global production of organic cotton from 2018 to 2019 by 56%. Facilities certified to leading voluntary organic textile standards also grew significantly between 2018 to 2019 by 48% for Organic Cotton Standard and 35% for Global Organic Textile Standard. As a result, 2018/19 saw the second biggest harvest of organic cotton ever recorded. The increasing demand for organic cotton brings tremendous benefits to the ecosystem.

Organic cotton production is a ‘proof of concept’ for the significant and strengthening focus and effort on restorative and regenerative practices for agriculture. Rebuilding soil health, water cycles, protecting biodiversity both above and below soil across our working lands is essential for our future and is key to the nature-based approaches that comprise over 30% of solution for climate change. 

With this article, we would like to look at the importance of regenerative agriculture and non-GM seed in cotton production and how they can help us combat climate change.

Why Non-GM Seed is Better Than GM Seed

The non-genetically modified seed that is suitable for growing organic cotton is crucial for ensuring both integrity and growth of organic cotton production. Within the global cotton land area of 32.9 million hectares, around 76% was planted with non-GM seeds in 2018. 

Genetically modified (GM) cotton was created to sustain an intensive agricultural system by reducing the use of pesticides, thereby limiting their farm to human health and the environment. Developed as a tool to improve pest management, it has been presented as a technology that will bring economic growth to cotton farming communities. However, there are several concerns with the technology and how it affects the environment, society and farmers’ financials especially regarding the long-term implications of introducing GM cotton. 

• Economic Risks for Farmers

Research results still vary and economic benefits associated with GM crops have yet to be proven over the long term. Uncertainty about the financial benefits of GM adoption is one of the most significant risks to farmers who also experience ever-rising production costs and cotton price fluctuations on the global cotton market. GM crops can be a particularly costly risk to cash-poor farmers when a financial loss occurs as a result of crop failure, which could limit their ability to purchase GM seed and associated inputs. The inputs are often capital-intensive cotton farming production system, poses a significant risk of debt, bankruptcy, and even farmer suicides if returns do not pay off, especially for small farmers in countries that do not provide economic safety nets. 

• Concerns over Resistance to Pesticides and Adverse Environmental Effects

With the increasing use of GM cotton comes concerns over the insect and weak resistance to pesticides. The ubiquitous use of toxins in GM cotton agriculture is already creating resistance among bollworms, and the emergence of secondary pests has been observed in India’s cotton production. The pest attacks can result in additional pesticide applications being needed, which comes with additional costs for production and environmental damage. 

A similar phenomenon can be observed with weeds becoming resistant to the herbicides used in combination with herbicide-tolerant (HT) crops. A review of 900 studies found that adoption of GM crops initially reduced the use of herbicides, but that resistant weeds later evolved, and resistance to herbicide glyphosate has led to creased usage of the herbicides. As a result, now farmers are spending more on seeds, more on fertiliser and more on insecticides. 

• Monopoly and Seed Ownership Issues

The introduction of GM cotton has raised concerns about farmers’ dependence on the agrochemical industry. Farmers do not save GM seeds from previous harvests because GM cotton plants are F1 hybrids (i.g. the first generation offspring from two distinctly different parent plants). As a result, farmers planting GM cotton must buy new seeds each year to avoid having uneven paint types with lower production. They must also pay the technology fee associated with GM seeds. 

One study estimated that the one company alone owned up to 95% of the cotton seed market in India through its GM seeds. In 2018, 76% of conventional cotton production worldwide was genetically modified. The introduction of GM cotton also has disconnected farmers from the plant breeding process, risk the loss of agricultural know-how that has been passed down for centuries. 

Supporting Organic Cotton Can Make Our Future Brighter 

While organic cotton was once seen as a “niche,” today, brands of all sizes are marking its major components of their fibre and material portfolio. More and more brands and retailers are setting targets and making commitments to increase their use of organic cotton, encouraged by growing evidence of the sustainability benefits of fibre and organic farming. 

If you’d like to learn about the social issues of cotton production in China and India, you can read this article: “Cotton Production; Social Issues in China and India“

What are your thoughts on organic cotton, regenerative agriculture and non-GM seeds? Let us know what you think!