Organic. TS Design, USA: Yes it can be done in North Carolina!

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1 Organic in Action TS Design, USA: Yes it can be done in North Carolina! Back in 2006, Eric Henry and Brian Morrell met with experts in North Carolina state agriculture. Their mission: to grow organic cotton in the state. The response: it can t be done. Now, five years later and for the first time, a usable volume of USDA-certified organic cotton was harvested in North Carolina. Despite challenges to growing organic cotton in the state, including weeds, pests and defoliation issues, two North Carolina farms Hickory Meadows Organics and Parrish Enterprises grew 50 acres of certified organic cotton in These two operations have planted cotton again in Henry - president of TS Designs - and Morrell - president of Mortex Apparel - worked with these farms to purchase some of their organic cotton in their home state and as a solution for what they considered a broken supply chain. Until now, TS Designs organic cotton T-shirts have been made at Mortex, but due to a shortage of U.S.-grown organic cotton, they have been made from overseas yarn. The journey of growing organic cotton in North Carolina began about five years ago when we were told it couldn t be done, said Henry. We started by making T-shirts from cotton grown in the state with a line called Cotton of the Carolinas, knowing that eventually we could do the same thing with certified organic cotton grown here. Henry and Morrell partnered to create Cotton of the Carolinas, which has been sold for the past few four years. Since the cotton was not certified organic, the brand focused on supporting local jobs and creating an entirely transparent supply chain, connecting the wearer of every shirt with every producer in the supply chain. The supply chain, and the small transport footprint (the cotton travels less than 800 miles from dirt to shirt) can be seen here on googlemaps Textile Exchange

2 PHOTO: Harvesting organic cotton in North Carolina, by TS Designs. Conventional textile wisdom says you can t create an apparel line from one farm, but we did it, said Morrell. This organic cotton harvest is the next milestone and represents significant opportunity in bringing a positive impact to both jobs and the environment in our state. Mary Wilks of Carolina Precision Consulting in Rocky Mount spearheaded the technical efforts of ensuring compliance to certified organic standards from seed to gin Textile Exchange

3 PHOTO: (Top) Harvester, (Bottom) Part of the T-shit printing process, by TS Designs. Cotton has been grown successfully in this region of North Carolina for many generations, Wilks explained. Hickory Meadows Organics and Lewie Parrish combined both traditional production methods such as timely cultivation and local produced manure/poultry litter fertilizer and modern integrated pest management to successfully grow this organic cotton. These farms were fortunate in 2011 to have timely rainfall, adequate heat and a light frost for clean defoliation. We look forward to fine tuning and potentially expanding the organic cotton production in Growing organic cotton will have additional benefits for Hickory Meadows and Parrish Enterprises. Genetically-modified seeds commonly used in non-organic farming are costly over $500 a bag and farmers cannot save their seeds for the next season. However, most of the varieties used by Hickory Meadows and Parrish Enterprises were less than $100 a bag, and the farms can re-use the seeds obtained after ginning their cotton. Roland McReynolds is the director of Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, an organization that advocates on behalf of organic and sustainable farmers. Farmers can free themselves of the ever-escalating prices of genetically modified cotton seed, McReynolds said Textile Exchange

4 PHOTO (left to right): Eric Henry, Mary Wilks (consultant), Orpha Gene Watson (farmer), Lewie Parrish (farmer), and Brian Morrell (t-shirt mfg), by TS Designs. Over-reliance on GM seed has led to an epidemic of superweeds, and thanks to the efforts of Mr. Watson, Mr. Parrish, and TS Designs, we have a chance to get off that treadmill. 25,000 pounds of cotton was ginned in January 2012 of which 19,000 pounds are staying in North Carolina to make t-shirts, polo golf shirts and jeans. The quality and yield of the cotton was very similar to the conventional cotton grown in the area. Henry and Morrell s story shows that you should never give up, whatever obstacles might seem to be in the way. The growing consumer interest in origins means that growing areas that wouldn t be considered viable even 10 years ago can now be brought into production successfully. Adapted from the press release resources - Nashville, N.C. December 20, 2011 For more information, please visit: Organic certificates and harvest photos are available at For video on North Carolina s First Organic Cotton, please go to com/watch?v=xstiomghcp8&feature=youtu.be For video on From Dirt to Shirt, please go to 3mnGLc2Y&feature=player_embedded

5 More about TS Designs TS Designs was founded in TS Designs began as a small screenprinting company and grew into a fully automated manufacturing company printing shirts for a lot of the major brands. After the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the business suffered from customers shifting their business to Mexico for the lower labour costs. CEO Tom Sineath and President Eric Henry, together with fellow business owner decided to rather than close the business, instead take a new direction and work to a triple bottom line business model focusing equally on People, the Planet and Profits. In the late 90s TS Designs developed and patented the REHANCE print and dye process to eliminate the use of plastisol inks that typically contain PVC and phthalates. Today TS Designs is focused on making their t-shirts where they sell their t-shirts. About 80% are now made in North Carolina and a lot use NC grown cotton and the first NC certified cotton. The company has received numerous awards for its sustainability efforts, most notably the Green Business Leadership Award presented by Co-op America in 2004.

6 Contact Eric Henry President, TS Designs Designed b y Evonne Tan Textile Exchange inspires and equips people to accelerate sustainable practices in the textile value chain. We focus on minimizing the harmful impacts and maximizing the positive effects of the global textile industry. Our signature program focuses on organic cotton value chains; improving lives for farmers, stimulating markets, and supporting best practice. Website: farmhub.textileexchange.org/ Copyright 2012 Textile Exchange. All rights reserved.