One of the participants in our media round table on sustainability was Berrye Worsham, President & CEO of Cotton Incorporated. Thanks to my good friend Brad Robb I was able to interview Barrye today.

He says that one of the key challenges for marketing cotton today is that word, sustainability, especially from an environmental standpoint. For one thing he says that cotton has had a negative image in this area due to some very outdated and mis-information. So one of the things they’re doing is working to overcome that hurdle.

Another participant in the session was Peter McGrath with J.C. Penney Company. He told us that this is not a fad that will go away soon. So Barrye says that it’s important to know what retailers want since they’re being proactive in making sure that the products they sell adhere to good environmental practices. He says that it’s not that consumers are demanding it but that they assume that companies are acting responsibly.

Some of the ways Cotton, Inc. is communicating it’s message includes surveying farmers for data that can be used to support claims of environmental responsibility and the conducting of one on one meetings with manufacturers and retailers, re-designing their website and doing some industry advertising.

Download my interview with Barrye Worsham here: Barry Worsham Interview (6 min mp3)

You can also listen to the interview with Barrye immediately here: beltwide-08-worsham.mp3

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