The fabric for our lives

These commercials for cotton have been on the airwaves for decades. I had to dust off a few cobwebs to remember that tagline "the fabric of our lives" but it was there, well embedded into my childhood consciousness. Guess it was effective marketing, huh?
These days Cotton Incorporated (yes, a real corporate entity, the one behind the these commercials) has the likes of Hayden Panettiere, Katy Perry, Miranda Lambert and others shilling for 'America's Cotton Producers and Importers' (that's who Cotton Inc claims to support with the campaign).

A couple weeks back I wrote about Patagonia and its supply chain practices, namely as related to reducing the environmental impact of its products (original post here). What a novel idea!

Then I saw this 'Thought Leaders' talk on HuffPo about the debate between natural and synthetic fibers. There's a written article and a recorded round-table type discussion between Rick Ridgeway from Patagonia and Chip Bergh from Levi Strauss.

Interesting ideas being tossed around here. Cotton usually seems to get the advantage for being a natural fiber, but how much do we consider the impact of growing cotton? Production is where the footprint is and, according to these guys, cotton is a big offender. Even organic cotton.

For me, the jury's still out. I do love the crispness of a fresh sheets, and what's better than the broken-in softness of your favorite tee? If I'm not mistaken, polyester is a petroleum-based product, and I'm thinking it can't be good to wear recycled plastic bottles right next to your skin (as good as it is to get those bottles recycled).

But, the more I know, the harder it is to go back to the same ole status quo. I guess I'm glad to have the chance to make better choices.

What do you think of the synthetic/natural debate?

-- Jazzy