Cleaner Cotton™

Help Clean up
Cotton in California

Care What You Wear Campaign

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Case Study: Pride without Pesticides  |  Patagonia Case Study

Company:	Associated Students, CSU Chico
Location:	Chico, California
Size of business:	Projected 3,000 organic cotton T-shirts in one academic year (8 months)
Timeline:	2000 - establish student body commitment through Associated Students Government Affairs Committee Organic Cotton T-shirt resolution 2001 - introduce collegiate ware line to campus bookstore 2001 - kick off campus marketing and outreach campaign
Organizational directive:	Elected student officer initiative; dedicated student body

Earth Day 2000 keynote speaker Will Allen, [former] Executive Director of the Sustainable Cotton Project brought the organic cotton issue to a room full of motivated and concerned students. He shared the frightening realities of conventional cotton farming practices and highlighted how SCP is working to increase California organic cotton acreage and boost markets for organically grown cotton products. Allen also pointed out that organic cotton farmers were struggling to find a stable and viable market that would support their cotton fibers. Taking this presentation to heart, students saw an opportunity to incorporate an environmentally sound product into campus operations and support an innovative and progressive agricultural market.

The introduction of organic cotton products to CSU Chico began in the Fall of 2000 when student interns connected the organic cotton clothing manufacture Patagonia to the Associated Students Bookstore. In April of 2001, CSU Chico became the first university in the nation to have a line of organic cotton collegiate apparel.

Meanwhile, the Associated Students Government Affairs Committee wrote an Organic Cotton T-shirt Resolution, reinforcing the Associated Students commitment to organic cotton. The resolution begins with a recommendation that the Associated Students Bookstore purchase and sell organic cotton clothes, and states the importance of a campus wide education campaign on organic cotton. The resolution then mandates that "all Activity Funded programs purchase 100 percent organic cotton T-shirts for all events."