Almost half of all textiles are made from cotton, but there are certain problems with its production. One of these is the massive amounts of pesticides used in the crop. Some cotton fields in China, which is the world’s biggest cotton producer, are sprayed an average of 20 times a year. And in America, cotton crops take up 4 per cent of agricultural land but uses almost 25% of the country’s insecticides.

Another problem is water. It takes an average of 10,000 litres to produce one kilogram of cotton. In some areas the vast amount of water used has disastrous consequences: the Aral Sea in Russia has shrunk to a quarter of its original size, in large part due to cotton cultivation.

The widespread use of GM in cotton production is also a contentious issue – it’s now used on about 20 per cent of cotton crops and about 80 per cent of what’s grown in the US. The aim of its introduction was to reduce the amounts of chemicals used, but there are doubts over whether this has actually been achieved. In fact it’s feared that GM cotton crops may have led to the growth of herbicide-resistant super-weeds.

Organic cotton uses fewer pesticides and is GM-free; farmers fertilise with manure and use natural pest detergents. One problem they haven’t managed to address, however, is the large quantities of water needed. But most organic cotton is produced in areas where irrigation is not needed. Growing organic cotton also takes up more land because of lower yields.

Organic standards for cotton include restrictions on chemicals used in processing, reductions in energy and waste, labelling specifications, and even requirements relating to materials used for accessories, such as buttons, buckles and zips.

You might think that there is very little that we, as buyers of cotton, can do about this.

More and more retailers are setting restrictions on chemicals and standards for pollution control for clothes being sold through their stores.

But…we should be asking more and more retailers what they are doing to clean up their products.