Shaw pointed out that addressing those and the other challenges cotton faces in becoming more sustainable won't be easy -- or cheap. "Due to the costs inherent in making major changes, additional compensation will be required at various points in the supply chain," he said. "That's something we simply have to accept, right from the start, if we want our industry to become more sustainable."
The second part of the Fiber Session focused on man-made fibers and began with with an overview of the global demand for chemical fibers. PCI Fibres' Peter Driscoll stated that while part of man-made fibers' gains in overall market share are due to the growing number of uses for synthetics (above and beyond traditional textile applications), they are also the result of the extreme volatility that the cotton industry has experienced in recent years.
"That price volatility appears to have reflected a panic about the supply [of cotton]," he said. "A number of retail brands we've talked with said are making a concerted effort to move away from cotton products because they can't bear the thought of discontinuity of their supplies."
He said it took six to nine months for the man-made fiber industry to pick up the demand vacated when cotton prices spiked, but that lag is just part of the business. "Generally speaking, demand from consumers tends to be quite smooth," Driscoll said. "What isn't smooth is the fiber industry's reaction to that demand. A retailer might see an increase in sales of green shirts, decide that green is now 'in,' and order [a large number of green shirts] from the supplier. The market then becomes saturated because the anticipated demand was distorted. But that's the way this business works, and it always will, so we simply have to live with it."
Madhu Suthanan of Reliance Industries gave the final presentation of the day, focusing on the sustainability advantages offered by polyester fiber -- particularly those related to economics.
"Polyester is not only the most affordable of textile fibers, it has had the lowest levels of volatility in recent years," he said. "In addition, polyester supplies are easily scalable to varying levels of demand, a problem that is much more challenging" for natural fiber."
He concluded by pointing out that there is a 98% correlation between GDP and fiber demand, and as the global economy continues on the road to recovery, polyester isexpected to be the biggest beneficiary, accounting for 65% of the growth in incremental demand in coming years. Polyester filaments accounted for less than 10% of global fiber consumption in 1980, but that number will approach 50% of the total fiber market by 2020, he predicted.
International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF)