Yep, you read that correctly!
This cotton has been fully produced on Australia’s East Coast! And we are so excited about that!
As many of you will be aware, majority of the world’s cotton is grown in not-so-ideal circumstances. ‘The True Cost’ and Stacey Dooley’s ‘Fashions Dirty Secrets’ are really eye-opening documentaries to watch, as they both investigate the conditions in which cotton is grown and the affect it has on the environment and communities.
Given that the ideal climate conditions for growing cotton are sub tropical and tropical areas, we ask ourselves…why isn’t more cotton being grown in Australia? Full Circle Fibres are on the right path and are doing just that!
1. Growing the Cotton
Location: St George, Queensland
The cotton is grown at the Benelong Farm, home of Australian Super Cotton in St George, Queensland.
They have been growing cotton on this land since 1976.
2. Turning the cotton into fabric
Location: Victoria
The cotton is delivered to Victoria where it is spun into yarn, knitted into fabric and then dyed.
This is done at three different mills in Melbourne. Unfortunately the spinning mill has been closed down since.
The dyes used are industry best practice and colourfast.
“When working with Australian based mills we have the benefits of the local regulatory framework around our comprehensive chemical and environmental safety frameworks. By growing demand, we begin to build critical mass over a mix of markets to bring spinning (and recycling) back here.” - Meriel, Full Circle Fibres, 2020
3. Fabric is delivered to Full Circle Fibres
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
The fabric is then delivered to Meriel at Full Circle Fibres, our supplier. They connect the growers to the users.
Meriel has a background in Textile Science and Technology and is advocating for Australian grown, spun + milled textiles.
4. Fabric is delivered to Common Stitch
Location: Sunshine Coast, Queensland
We have sourced the Australian Cotton from Full Circle Fibres, to be able to be used to make our handmade garments, including the Sparrow Tee! We also wanted to be able to offer it to our customers who love to sew themselves. You can find the Australian grown + milled cotton in our Common Stitch Fabric Shop! We ship all of our orders in compostable packaging from Better Packaging Co.
Majority of the cotton that is out there on the market is normally grown in one country, then shipped to multiple countries to be milled, spun, dyed and made into garments, travelling thousands of km’s. All of this before it is even shipped to the retailers then on to you, to be worn!
The Australian grown + milled cotton has all been transported by road freight, avoiding the large environmental impacts caused by air freight. We have tracked our cottons approx. movement below, given that we have a transparent supply chain.
We’d love to know if you’ve purchased Australian grown cotton from us and it’s total movement once it has reached you. Let us know by using #mycottonmovement on social media and tagging us @common_stitch
We hope you love this Australian grown + milled cotton as much as we do.
Common Stitch is an Australian business, supporting our Australian farmers, manufacturers + suppliers.