Cotton is the most popular textile in the world. According to WWF¹, almost half of all textiles are made of cotton. But farming cotton is extremely resource-intensive. It requires pesticides and fertilisers (which causes river pollution and damages farmers’ health) and a lot of water. Imagine, it takes 2,700 litres of water just to produce a t-shirt (on average, we drink only 2 litres per day)!

Does Cafuné use cotton?

Given the burden on natural resources, the environmental impact and social problems associated with cotton production, we pledge to source cotton sustainably - recycled, organic or certified cotton only.

With a commitment to lower environmental impact through reducing waste, we prioritise regenerated cotton over all else. From 2021 onwards, we will only use cotton that contains at least 50% regenerated content. 

What is regenerated cotton?

Regenerated cotton is cotton made from existing materials. Most regenerated cotton nowadays comes from pre-consumer materials, i.e. garment scraps and fabric by-products. They are sorted into similar colours before undergoing a mechanical recycling process, which produces recycled fibre that are spun back into yarns.

As there is no need for dyeing, regenerated cotton helps to reduce water, chemical and energy consumption, and diverts products destined for landfills to be reused. 

Can regenerated cotton replace virgin cotton? 

After a harsh mechanical recycling process, recycled fibre deteriorates in quality. As a result, most regenerated cotton is 'downcycled' to lower quality products like insulation, mop heads and padding. 

To use regenerated cotton for higher-end use like fashion, it must blend with other fibres to achieve good strength and durability. For instance, our canvas contains 65% regenerated cotton and 35% virgin cotton. Once blended, fibres cannot be recycled again because of the difficulty to separate the different fibres.

Our commitment to regenerated cotton

Since our products are made to last a long time and unlikely to be discarded, the inability to recycle regenerated cotton is an acceptable condition.

Our goal is to continuously improve the recycled properties of cotton in our collection. Globally, there are start-ups and organisations such as H&M Foundation that are working on technologies to improve textile recycling. We believe as technology refines, it won't be long until we can use 100% regenerated cotton in fashion.