US cotton growers have cut soil loss by 45 percent and improved irrigation water-use efficiency by 58 percent over the past four decades, according to Cotton Incorporated's 2023 National Resource Survey — data the fiber group is now deploying directly at apparel sourcing teams weighing cotton against cheaper polyester.

Jesse Daystar, Ph.D., vice president and chief sustainability officer at Cotton Incorporated, laid out the on-farm record: greenhouse gas emissions from US cotton production are down 25 percent over the same period, and land-use efficiency is up 30 percent.

"That progress is tied to better practices and better tools," Daystar told the Lifestyle Monitor, citing the survey. "More growers are using cover crops, reduced tillage, no-till or strip-till, precision agriculture, irrigation scheduling, flow meters and soil moisture monitoring."

What does the life cycle assessment show?

Cotton Incorporated commissioned engineering consultancy WSP USA to run what it calls the most comprehensive, data-driven life cycle assessment of US cotton fiber production to date. The findings matter for brands building science-backed environmental claims.

• Cotton's natural fiber composition creates biogenic carbon dioxide storage — a structural distinction from petroleum-based synthetics.
• When temporary biogenic CO2 flows are counted, US cotton production achieves a net negative cradle-to-gate emission of -0.264 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of fiber.
• The LCA identifies further opportunities to improve circularity and strengthen the permanence of that carbon storage.

The biogenic carbon accounting is the key number for sourcing teams comparing fiber-level footprints. It positions US cotton as a measurable alternative at a moment when nearly 70 percent of world textile fiber output is synthetic, led by petroleum-based polyester.

How fast are practices changing on farms?

The adoption data is not static. Cover crop use among surveyed growers rose from 20 percent in 2015 to 48 percent in 2023, according to the Natural Resource Survey. No-till and strip-till use increased between 2008 and 2023, while conventional tillage declined over the same window.

Liz Hershfield, executive director of Cotton USA and co-director of the US Cotton Trust Protocol, said growers were early adopters of precision agriculture — satellite imagery, drone technology and AI-driven agronomic management — to optimize yields while reducing environmental impact.

"There's a gap between how the fashion industry talks about responsible, regenerative agriculture and what's actually been happening on US cotton farms for years," Hershfield said. "Responsible cotton stewardship is something that they've built their business around, because without it, there is no business."

What is the commercial case for brands?

The demand-side data comes from Cotton Council International and Cotton Incorporated's 2025 Global Lifestyle Monitor Survey of 13,026 respondents.

• 75 percent of consumers describe sustainable clothing as essential (21 percent) or nice to have (54 percent).

• 83 percent consider cotton and other natural fibers safe for the environment, versus 48 percent for rayon, 46 percent for polyester and 41 percent for Tencel.

• 75 percent of shoppers prefer apparel made of cotton, cotton blends or denim — against 7 percent for polyester, 5 percent for spandex and 4 percent for rayon.

• 59 percent of consumers globally say they will pay more for clothes made of natural fibers, rising to 85 percent in India and 66 percent in Mexico.

That willingness-to-pay figure is the sharpest commercial argument against polyester's cost advantage, which brands most often cite for synthetic-heavy assortments. The waste context sharpens it further: the US Environmental Protection Agency finds 85 percent of textiles in America end up in landfills annually, and petroleum-based garments shed microplastic fibers during wear and washing that can take hundreds of years to degrade.

Who pays if demand shifts?

Hershfield framed the supply-side stakes for sourcing decisions. More than 15,000 cotton farms operate across 17 states, and 98 percent are family-owned and operated. Growers have absorbed difficult market conditions for several years, she said, and infrastructure built over generations erodes when demand is not there to support it.

"Their futures are shaped, in part, by the sourcing decisions brands make," Hershfield stated. "That's something brands have more influence over than they often realize."

Daystar's closing pitch targeted the fiber-selection stage directly: "Apparel brands should care because the sustainability story of a garment starts with the fiber. US cotton gives brands a natural, trusted and data-backed fiber with a real story of continuous improvement from the farm forward."

With the 2025 survey data showing majority willingness to pay a premium for natural fibers in key growth markets, Cotton Incorporated will likely keep pressing brands to move fiber mix decisions up the sustainability agenda — and to treat verified farm-level data as a sourcing criterion alongside price and lead time.