“Nothing to hide, tell the truth“ – this is the tenor of the three key note speeches, held at the panel “Good Communication – Good Marketing“ during the Helvetas World Congress of Organic Cotton in Interlaken, Switzerland. If this were as simple as it sounds. There are thousands of brands worldwide- but only a fraction of them make their business, their textile chain transparent.

Transparency along the whole textile chain – this is something hessnatur stands for. Robert Cornelius from the swiss company Switcher and Simona Matt from the retail company Coop are also committed to this principle. They both join the panel with hessnatur’s CEO Wolf Lüdge.

Coop sources organic cotton for their collection from projects in India and Tanzania. Switcher offers transparent information about the whole production process. Every customer is able to see their production steps in the internet.

Wolf focused in his key note speech on 7 principles of sustainable marketing and brand communication. It’s important, he said, to stay on the beliefs of the brand, respect its roots and involve the customer. For example as we here do in the hessnatur corporate blog or with the Eco-Tee Design Contest. Also it’s the brand promise to ambition for innovations. Wolf mentioned our organic cotton growing project with Helvetas in Burkina Faso, where hessnatur supports – together with our customers – the meal  in the school cafeteria.

There was one statement during the discussion from Robin Cornelius I was thinking about. He said: “In the economy it’s not only about to grow, grow, grow.” It’ s much more about to give something economical a kind of sense, of spirit it’s necessary to be able to change things in the world with the work a company or brand is doing – just to give something a kind of sense. People and brand acting with the belief like this should not hide and be hidden. They need to get heard.

As awareness of organic cotton grows, the impact of organizations dedicated to promoting it become more visible.  The World Congress of Organic Cotton takes place this year from September 21-24 in Interlaken, Switzerland.  It is part of the United Nations declaring 2009 the Year of Natural Fibres.

The theme of the Congress, “From Fashion to Sustainability” identifies the profound change that is happening in the fashion world.  No longer is fashion just “clothing of the moment”, instead  it plays a critical role is determining the health of our environment.

The Congress, sponsored by the Swiss NGO, Helvetas, has asked our CEO, Wolf Luedge, to deliver a keynote address regarding communicating and marketing sustainable and ecological fashion.

Everyone involved in the textile chain – from growing through manufacturing – will be part of the Congress.  Business leaders, technical experts, project managers, CSR and marketing specialists will be working together to identify solutions and innovations for cotton.

Cotton is the leading fiber grown worldwide.  Yes, it is natural, but that doesn’t mean it’s sustainable.  When conventional cotton is grown, tons of pesticides and other chemicals are used.  They not only harm the soil and the water, they also can destroy the health of the farmers and their families.  Fair Trade organic cotton represents only a tiny fraction of the worldwide cotton market.

Continuing to raise awareness of the importance of wearing organic cotton and other fibers is critical to our future.  The Congress provides a forum for all those who are committed to this goal.  We are all looking forward to it.