Organic food companies will not buy organic apparel

With the addition of the American Organic Standards for Fiber Processing, Version 6, the OTA makes the quality of organic products for textiles a reality. The question is: is the organic food industry ready to support their cousins, to help build demand for the organic textile products? Over the last 5 years, several companies have been working to replace the non organic t-shirts used as advertising by organic food companies, with organic product, only to be told that the garments are "too expensive" verses traditional t-shirts or fleece wear. This seems to be oxymoronic at best. Organic food products sell at a premium because the consumer learned what they were taught about the quality, health, and value obtained from organic products. It would seem that the organic food producers would be the first group to support the production of stylish, distinguishable, organic textiles, by purchasing organically produced garments that meet the new organic standards and promote civil society. Sure, these garments will cost more than the products produced in Chinese factories, made from non-organic cotton, but the same advantages that drive the growth of organic foods also can be the qualities that create a fertile marketplace for organically produced textile materials.

In this case, existing organic food markets, distributors, and producers, that use printed t-shirts as promotion or work wear, can be the nucleus for a growing, sustainable customer base for organic textiles. The same dynamics that are creating new sustainable jobs in agriculture through organic foodstuffs can recreate a more sustainable local and global textile industry. However, this can only occur if there is market demand. Every time an organic textile producer loses an order to the non-organic product, especially when the customer is an organic market or food producer, there is a not so subtle message of "no difference" between organic products and non-organic products. Our goal is to make "All Things Organic" and sometimes that means putting your money where it can do the most good...Especially when we are trying to build value in a new standard and teach the consumer.

One of the stated principals in promulgating a new textile organic standard is to create the demand for greener chemistries and production methods for textiles. This occurs when there is enough demand to interest the technology leaders. Currently, organic textiles are the flea on the back of the world textile elephant. Does this remind anyone of the situation that existed in organic foods in the 1960's? We should be shameless promoters of organic textiles and the first to support the development of this infant segment of this ancient industry, not the one's behaving like the big box retailers, whose only idea of value is how cheaply something can be made. Gandhi spent time each day spinning cotton in support of the local Indian textile market, can we not emulate him and support a new niche for organic produce?

Wear organic!

O' Canada

I spent part of last week at the Sustainable Enterprise Academy, which is a consortium for executive training for sustainable development based out of York University in Toronto, UNC, and several other universities. Each time I go to work in Canada, I get the distinct feeling that they are different from Americans in a very tangible way. After several in depth discussions, I think that it has to do with the pace of life and fear.

In America, we are now ruled by fear. Fear of losing our jobs, our economic success, our health insurance, our way of life. We are convinced that if we work harder, increase the pace of our activities, that we can overcome (or at least repress) our fears. We are sure that our capitalism and individualism, will allow us to lead.

The Canadians on the other hand seem to believe in the strength of the collective with a bit more socialism built in. I think that the basis for this is their national health insurance plan. With this safety net, there is a decline in pace that allows for deeper discussions and collaboration that may produce longer lasting solutions to problems. It is not the endless discussions that take place in Europe (I'll never forget the Dutchman who told me the national product of the Netherlands are meetings), but a purposeful pace that is inclusive of dialogue without a rush to make a decision, good or bad. There is an emphasis on good dialogue that produces good decisions. I have been to the center for dialogue in Vancouver, BC and seen the new Business School at York University. All of these facilities are like the Canadian people...Built to sustain a dialog based process of decision making.

I think that it would be interesting to see how tension levels would drop in the US if we had national health insurance. For our company, other than sales, insurance costs are the most inflationary, uncontrollable cost we have. How do you put a price on health and when we do, we get the frenetic pace that we Americans enjoy today. We should learn from our good neighbors from the North.

A Passing

Today one of my colleagues at work died after about 1 month of severe illness with complications from lung cancer. He is the second one to die in less than a year. Today is also my 49th birthday.

I have paid little attention to birthdays in my 20's, 30's and 40's, but as I get closer to my 50th and I began to have colleagues die, its a little disconcerning. Father Time stares back at me in the mirror every morning.

The kids will all be in college next year and life is more unsettled than it has ever been, but strangely, I am finding great peace and solace from working at my farm. Unlike the work I do in management and research, each day on the farm is a finished project. Whether you are sowing or mowing, planting or plowing...or just weeding, you seem to get finished and you can see what you have accomplished. It does kind of piss you off though when the bugs or the deer eat your hard work. Tomorrow I will work out there all day and I will be a happy boy.

I watched the tape of that guy being beheaded. They must have had him drugged out of his mind... because he did not struggle. I would have been cussing and fighting all the way. Plus the video did not look that real.

Reasons for work on sustainable development

Our company is part of the continued decline of the US textile business. Part of our strategy to survive the destruction of the domestic textile industry by globalization has been a transformation of our textile-based technology into non textile areas. In the 1980's-1990's, our company spent a lot of money on 'green chemistry' and developing greener processes for textile wet processing. We also were responding for new limitations on the aquatic toxicity of textile wastestreams. This account has been published in the Journal of Cleaner Production 12 (2004) 585-601 in an article that I co-wrote with Larry Ausley of NCDWQ.

As we have moved through our transformation by creatively transforming our textile business, what we have discovered is that the efficiencies and process improvements made in our quest to become more sustainable, are indeed robust business assets that have aided in the change processes within our company. Many of narrowly defined technical issues that were specific to textiles have not translated into long-term assets, but...many of the greener improvement have translated.

I think that this may be one of the major reasons that manufacturing firms should work to be socially responsible...not for marketing or advertising but to produce durable business advantages.

The beauty of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)

This year, my wife and I joined a group supporting Timberwood Organics. This is a small organic farm located in Mebane, NC. Ray is the farmer and we paid ~$500 for 28 weeks of fresh produce. I run down to the farm and pick up the 'greenbox' once a week for ourselves and several of our friends. The quality of the produce has been excellent so far and I enjoy my weekly visits with old Ray. The beauty of this is that you know where your food is coming from, the land is being taken care of, and the money stays in the community. A CSA also spreads the risk for the farmer, who gets his money up front but the patron runs the risks of weather, drought, insects, etc.

I really do like the feel of this arrangement and wish that I could find a similar situation for meats and dairy.