Cotton grows on about 2.4% of the world's farmland but takes roughly 10% of its insecticides. Of the ten pesticides most used on conventional cotton, seven meet the UN's criteria for Highly Hazardous and six are known or suspected carcinogens. Organic cotton is the same plant, grown under standards that prohibit those synthetic pesticides, synthetic fertilisers and genetically modified seed.
Organic is under three percent of the world's cotton. It has doubled in three years, and it moves every time someone chooses it.
Organic farming cuts growers' input costs by around 38%, and the fibre earns a premium, so margins hold even where yields run lower. Growers on organic farms report measurably better health than those on conventional ones. After twelve years, organic soil carries 13% more carbon and 23% more microbial life. What reaches you is cotton finished to feel soft from the first wear rather than needing to be broken in.
Organic standards prohibit synthetic pesticides, synthetic fertilisers and genetically modified seed, and require crop rotation and soil management instead. It is worth being precise: organic is not pesticide-free. A short list of naturally derived treatments is permitted. What it removes is the synthetic chemistry that conventional cotton depends on.
The disproportion is the problem. Cotton occupies roughly 2.4% of the world's farmland yet accounts for around 4.7% of pesticide sales and 10% of insecticide sales. The cost lands on the people in the field: in a 2025 study of 1,074 cotton farmers and farmworkers in Tanzania, 48% reported an acute pesticide poisoning in the previous twelve months, and only 6% reached formal healthcare.
Not because of the fibre itself. Side-by-side testing finds no meaningful difference in length, strength or fineness between organic and conventional cotton. Softness comes from construction and finishing. Weight plays a part — the fleece runs 330 to 430 GSM, the ribbed jersey far lighter — but the finish matters more, and ours is built to feel soft from the first wear rather than needing to be broken in. Anyone telling you organic fibre is inherently softer is overselling it.
Not reliably, and we would rather say so. You will see a 91% figure repeated across the industry; it came from a 2014 study that compared largely rainfed organic fields with irrigated conventional ones, so it measured geography more than farming method. What drives cotton's water use is where it is grown and whether it is irrigated. Organic status does not change that.
Yields run lower, by around 14% across a four-year Indian trial, so the same garment takes more land and more work. Certification is slow and costly, and supply is scarce at under 3% of world production. The upside is where the money goes: organic growers have been paid premiums of 29 to 32% against a break-even of 5 to 7%, which is what makes farming this way viable at all.
Wash cold, inside out, with like colours and mild detergent. Avoid bleach, fabric softener and high heat, then air-dry and follow the individual garment's care label.
Turn it inside out and wash with like colours.
Machine wash cold. Cold matters more with cotton than people expect: heat is what causes shrinkage, and a heavyweight fleece has a lot of fibre to shrink.
Using soap? Keep it mild. No bleach, no fabric softener.
Reshape it while damp — the fleece is a substantial fabric at 330 to 430 GSM, and a good tug back to shape at the cuffs, hem and shoulders while it's wet sets how it dries. Then dry flat or over a rack rather than from a single hanging point, because wet heavyweight cotton is heavy enough to stretch its own shoulders. Air-dry where you can: it's the main thing standing between your hoodie and a size smaller.
A warm iron is fine.
Cotton holds odour more readily than wool does, so this is the part of the range that genuinely needs washing more often. Hang it to air properly between wears rather than folding it away warm.
Store bone dry, and give it room. Cotton is prone to mildew if it goes away with any moisture in it, and mildew stains don't come out. Breathable cotton bags or boxes rather than plastic, somewhere cool and out of direct light — sunlight fades and weakens cotton over months just as it does everything else.
This fabric is built to soften over time rather than start soft and give up. A bit of patience is part of the care.