As part of its sustainability initiative, international fashion retailer C&A Europe has collaborated with National Geographic Channel for a documentary – ‘For the Love of Fashion’ , hosted by filmmaker and advocate of sustainability issues Alexandra Cousteau.
The programme shows the globally recognised leader, Cousteau, travelling to India, the US and Germany to understand and show to the world the need for more sustainable methods of cotton production.
“Approximately half of all clothes manufactured globally are created with cotton, but conventional cotton farming risks harming our planet irreparably,” says Cousteau at the documentary’s European premiere in Berlin.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Hogue, Chief Sustainability Officer of C&A, said, “We are excited to support a documentary that provides a window into more sustainable cotton practices. Ultimately, we would like to inspire brands and consumers that more sustainable cotton has significant advantages for people and the planet.”
The 60-minute documentary reveals to its viewers the benefit organic cotton has on the environment as well as on a country’s economy, even while pointing out that cotton only accounts for less than 1 per cent of the world’s total annual crop. Not more than 2.4 per cent of the world’s farmlands is covered with cotton, even though this crop accounts for 24 per cent of the global sales of insecticides and 11 per cent of the global sales of pesticides.
Cousteau, in this documentary, which is scheduled to premiere on National Geographic Channel in May in select markets, goes into the cotton fields of Madhya Pradesh, India to get a feel of how cotton is produced in real time and meet the local farmers, who now live a different life, owing to the change-over from the conventional to the more improved, more sustainable methods of production. She also met NGO workers in India and elsewhere as well as industrialists in Germany and the US. In the documentary, Cousteau also interviews C&A’s sustainability experts to gauge the need for adopting organic methods.
“European Fashion Consumers need to understand that their choice matters in order to support a sustainable development in cotton growing countries,” Hogue added.
“…How clothes are produced has an impact on our environment in a way that few think about day to day. ‘For the Love of Fashion’ will highlight this impact, and its potential solutions, in a manner that engages our audiences all around the world,” Deborah Armstrong, Executive V-P, National Geographic Partners Europe stated.
Organic cotton represents 40 per cent of the retailer’s total cotton range, and C&A plans to achieve 100 per cent by 2020.
