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It's a fair question, and water usage for growing cotton is always a concern. There's no perfect production process, so there's always going to be trade-offs. Cotton grown in Turkey or Egypt is a lot closer but due to their wholesale buying system it's very hard to know exactly where your cotton was grown or the conditions on the farms and child labour in cotton farming is a big issue. You need to rely on external certifications, which can be a bit patchy.
The mill up in Manchester buys their lint directly from farms in California, so they know the working conditions on the farm and can trace the field each bale comes from and with help from their farms can calculate exactly how much water is used per bale/item of clothing.
It's not perfect, but that's the trade off. Maybe with a bit of time and effort, we can establish a fully traceable system somewhere a bit closer. Or give it 20 years and we'll be growing cotton in the sub-tropical climes of Kent.
Lebowski-
I'm somewhat better versed in supply chain and sunstainability issues of seafood, take these armchair ideas with a pinch of salt!
I don't know what access small business have to these materials but looking at movers (an assumption on my part) like Patagonia , they are (or were) investing in hemp to reduce cotton use and parterning with providers like Infinited Fiber to avoid using virgin materials alltogether. Something to consider but none of these might make what you want, etc.
https://infinitedfiber.com/
https://eu.patagonia.com/gb/en/industrial-hemp/ -
That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for your response.
spinnnout
JB
I know there's more nuance than this, but just out of curiosity, if you're trying to be more eco, why would you buy cotton that has almost 3x as many miles on it?
Growing cotton in California is not great. Water is diverted from the Colorado and San Joaquin River's where - up until literally the last two months - were in severe drought. Yes, alfalfa, rice, and almonds use more water here in California, but buying raw material from as close to home as possible seems to make the most eco-friendly sense?