Final project for Intro to Sustainable Design

1. The Carolina Cotton Project
Audrey Hunt
Fundamentals of Sustainable Design Spring 2018
Minneapolis College of Art and Design

2. Introduction
North Carolina used to be a leader
in the textile industry. Most
residents have some connection to
textiles. As a NC native, I have a
grandmother who picked cotton on
her family’s farm and worked in a
mill, a mother who folded
nightgowns and sewed rugs at a
mill, and I worked in new product
development at Hanes Brands.
However, when asked today about
the North Carolina textile industry,
most people would say, “What
textile industry? It’s all gone!”
While cotton is still one of the
main crops in the state, textile
manufacturing has all but
disappeared. Mills began
shutting down in the early 2000s
when most manufacturing
moved overseas, putting
thousands of people out of work
and drastically increasing cotton’s
carbon footprint. There is
growing support for reviving the
dying textile industry and
bringing jobs back.
A 19th century cotton mill

3. Core Components
The end goal is to get NC-based textile companies
such as Hanes Brands, Gildan, Lee, and Burlington
Industries to bring manufacturing back to the
Carolinas and to use cotton that has a lower
environmental impact. Cotton of the Carolinas, a
collaboration of farmers and manufacturers, is
dedicated to growing, making, and selling t-shirts
in the Carolinas, is an example of the growing
desire to bring back the state’s textile industry.
The first step is to gain public interest and show these
companies that there is a market for American made
organic cotton goods.
We will start by raising awareness of North Carolina’s
textile history and current possibilities as well as the
many benefits of organic cotton.
The entrance to Hanes Brands, Inc.’s corporate offices
People behind Cotton of the Carolinas; from left to right, Ronnie
(grower), Wes (ginner), Mark (spinner), Brian (cut/sew), and Eric
(print/dye)

4. Sustainability
Cotton is usually grown using pesticides and
chemicals that pollute the soil and water and
make farm workers sick.
It also takes a lot of water to produce cotton,
which accounts for 3% of all water consumed by
agriculture.
However, when grown organically, cotton has
little impact on air and soil, doesn’t harm
workers’ health, and requires less water per acre
than conventional cotton.
New technology like micro sub-surface drip
irrigation, as seen to the right, allow farmers to
conserve water. This can be expensive for small
farms to implement, but organizations like The
Better Cotton Initiative and CottonConnect are
working to help make it possible.

5. Strategy
Cities in North Carolina will raise awareness
through a month-long city cotton festival.
Winston-Salem, NC is known as the “City of
Arts and Innovation,” making the perfect
place to start this kind of event.
It will begin with the First Friday Gallery Hop,
where galleries will feature work made by
local fashion and fibers artists created using
NC-grown organic cotton. Photography of
local cotton farmers and textile mills and mill
workers will also be on display to give a face
to the movement.
Clockwise from top: A gallery hop in the arts district in Winston-Salem,
cotton farmer Lawrence Davenport, cotton fabric being sewn

6. The Sawtooth School for Visual Arts
is located in a building that used to
be a textile mill (shown left, then
and now). Their galleries will be
dedicated to showcasing the
building’s history and Winston-
Salem’s history in the textile
industry. They will also have classes
for kids and adults on spinning yarn,
knitting, sewing, and other fiber art
using local cotton as the medium.
Kaleideum, the science museum for
children, will have an exhibit about
cotton’s lifecycle, from seed to its
return to the soil, including an
explanation on the benefits
of organic farming.
The Southeastern
Center for Contemporary
Art (SECCA) will have
lectures on cotton’s
history, current state,
and future, and its
galleries will display local
cotton fiber art.
Cotton piled high at Oakdale Cotton Mill, which closed in 2002

7. Robert Newton’s 2012 documentary about the North
Carolina textile industry, Still Standing, will show at Winston-
Salem’s nonprofit arthouse cinema, Aperture.
The local NPR affiliate, WFDD, will play interviews with
textile workers, farmers, and environmental activists and
advertise cotton festival events and retailers of products
made with local cotton.
Festival events and profiles on people making a difference in the cotton
industry will be featured in Relish, the Winston-Salem Journal’s weekly
entertainment section.
ARTivity on the Green is a small park with a wall featuring murals that
are changed regularly. These will be painted with images of our vision
of the future: thriving organic cotton fields, revived textile mills, and a
stronger, more sustainable local economy.

8. Local designers will participate in a fashion show using
apparel made with North Carolina organic cotton, and the
garments will go on to be displayed in windows of local
businesses around town.
Youth organizations such as 4-H, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts
and church youth groups will put together visual
presentations about cotton farming, the textile industry,
benefits of organic farming, history of textiles in NC, and
other relevant topics. These will be displayed in the
education building at the fairgrounds, where they will be
open to the public and schools will take field trips to learn
from them and vote on their favorites. Ribbons will be
awarded to the groups who receive the most votes.
Town hall meetings will be held to residents to voice their
opinions on the future of the textile industry and speak
with city officials about making the necessary changes.
Image from the third annual Winston-Salem Fashion Week in 2017

9. Photo references in order of appearance
1. Sarah Michelle http://anguerde.com/TTF-289458-cotton-field.html
2. Glass, Brent D. The Textile Industry in North Carolina: a History. Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Dept. of Cultural Resources,
1992.
3. http://www.mr-mag.com/gerald-evans-succeed-richard-noll-ceo-hanesbrands/
4. https://www.facebook.com/pg/cottonofthecarolinas/photos/?tab=album&album_id=487839985349
5. http://cdn1.bigcommerce.com/server3000/cc622/product_images/uploaded_images/organic-cotton-infographic-pt-1.jpg
6. https://www.triplepundit.com/special/cotton-sustainability-c-and-a-foundation/water-cotton-lifecycle/
7. http://www.camelcitydispatch.com/first-friday-gallery-hop-in-downtown-winston-salem-returns-this-week-0757/
8. https://whereyourclothing.com/
9. https://projects.ncsu.edu/cals/agcomm/magazine/winter04/state.htm
10. Glass, Brent D. The Textile Industry in North Carolina: a History. Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Dept. of Cultural Resources,
1992.
11. https://localstack.com/biz/sawtooth-school-for-visual-art-winston-salem-nc/6922483
12. Glass, Brent D. The Textile Industry in North Carolina: a History. Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Dept. of Cultural Resources,
1992.
13. https://phuzzrecords.com/pinestateholiday/
14. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/550213279451420811/
15. Brandon Bartoszek
16. http://yesweekly.com/winston-salem-fashion-week-debuts-its-3rd-annual-showcase/
17. http://sfntoday.com/cotton-planters-intentions-survey-results-are-in/