It feels like organic cotton is everywhere at the moment, but despite a number of high-profile retailers using it in their collections, it still only accounts for a miniscule 0.15% of worldwide cotton production.

The good news is that demand is increasing on a terrific scale, and though supply has quadrupled in the last few years, it’s not enough to keep up – a clear indicator of how consumer choice can affect change.

So what exactly is organic cotton? And why is its non-organic counterpart so damaging to the environment?

Conventional cotton farming is without doubt one of agriculture’s most destructive activities, taking an enormous toll on the environment, as well as affecting the health of all the people and wildlife living nearby.

Though cotton is grown on just 4% of the world’s arable soil, it consumes more than 11% of the pesticides and 24% of the insecticides used globally. And yet despite this huge consumption, only 10% of those chemicals do their job properly, while the rest is absorbed into the surrounding air, water and soil, where it pollutes, poisons and causes soil erosion.

The impact of this cannot be overestimated when you consider that each year 3 million people suffer the effects of pesticide poisoning, with 20,000 dying as a result. Organic cotton, on the other hand, is farmed using entirely natural methods such as crop rotation, intercropping and with natural pest repellents such as chilli, garlic and soap. All of which means the cotton can be harvested without causing harm to the people who work the land, or the surrounding countryside and wildlife.