It's all about Aussie cotton here in the lair! A few weeks ago we were presenting at the bi-annual Australian Cotton Conference up on the Gold Coast (more to come).
And then last week we were interviewed by SBS World News about the CSIRO's new R&D project dubbed "magic cotton" which aired on Wednesday August 15, 2018:
You may not know but Aussie cotton is widely considered the best in the world. Over that last 30 years the CSIRO and its partner Cotton Seed Distributors have improved cotton breeding significantly using genetically modified techniques and we're now world leaders in reducing the use of insecticides by 85 per cent and herbicides by 60 per cent. Plus Aussie cotton is also the most water efficient in the world, using less than half the global average.
And now our national science agency wants to take things even further to see if cotton can be grown with the characteristics of a synthetic making it crease resistant with no need for ironing. Sign us up for this truly magical combination!
And it couldn't come at a better time because we're facing both an environmental emergency and a brewing global health catastrophe thanks to microplastics. Every time we wash any synthetic material, millions of non-biodegradable microfibres enter our waterways and eventually into the food chain. Just last year 83% of tap water samples from around the world were found to be contaminated with microplastics.
It's scary to say the least, but thankfully this doesn't happen to cotton and other natural fibres like wool, because their microfibres naturally biodegrade.
And it's just another reason why we only offer natural fibre fabrics in our Citizen Wolf Tees.