News

News about World Cotton Day 2020

The page below lists all of the important announcements about the global World Cotton Day celebration. As organisations, businesses and individuals around the world plan their own local events, the ICAC will list all of the events with a description of the planned activities. 

When you plan your own individual celebration, please be sure to email ICAC Communications Director MIke McCue (mike@icac.org) so we can show everyone why cotton is the world's most important natural fibre.

Official World Cotton Day logos now available for download

Two versions of the official 2020 World Cotton Day logo are now available for download! Use these logos, as well as the other resources listed on that page, to assist with planning your own event. You can view and download them here: opaque and transparent.

'Women in Cotton' are challenging you! Win a FREE Ticket to the ICA Dinner in Singapore

In honour of World Cotton Day 2020, the 100+ members of the 'Women in Cotton' group on LinkedIn are holding a photo challenge — and everyone can participate! Here's what you need to do:.

1. Purchase an item of clothing / textiles that is made from 100% cotton
2. Photograph your purchase — either by wearing it or displaying it in a fun or thought-provoking way
3. Post your photos on social media between 1 and 7 Oct 2020 using #WomeninCotton and #WorldCottonDay
4. Send your photo to wic@ica-ltd.org with your name and company name before 30 September and the ICA will post it across its social media. There will a vote for the best emailed photo — and the winner will receive a free ticket to the ICA’s Singapore 2021 trade event, worth hundreds of dollars!

The ICAC will release #TruthABoutCotton videos on World Cotton Day

• The ICAC, one of the five organisations that launched World Cotton Day in 2019, has announced that it will relelase a series of videos on 7 October 2020. The subject of each video will be announced as we get closer to World Cotton Day. So far, the ICAC has confirmed it will debut videos that definitvely show:
  • The Aral Sea was destroyed by incredibly inefficient Soviet-era irrigation practices, not cotton cultivation
  • Cotton, as a xerophyte, requires 1,214 litres of water to produce a kg of fibre — not the absurd but commonly cited figure of 20,000 litres
  • More to be announced as we get closer to 7 October

ICAC Secretariat Members Issue a Cooking Challenge

• Cottonseed oil is used to make many of the foods we eat every day, including chips, cookies, crackers, margarine and salad dressing. Several members of the ICAC Secretariat will participate in a kitchen grudge match to see whose cottonseed oil recipe is the best. Due to the virus there can be no official taste test to determine which recipe is best, getting to eat the hot, fresh beignets, decadent cheescake or whatever you choose to make means everyone who cooks with cottonseed oil on 7 October will be a winner.

The Cotton Research Institute in Egypt has announced TWO projects for 7 October 

The first announcement: A Research Poster on Cotton Nano-Powder

• • This one-page document highlights the Institute's most recent innovation, a nano-powder that can be used in dozens of industrial applications
    • It emphasises that cotton is much more than fibre, and that there are many uses for cotton by-products that reduce waste and increase farmer income

  • The second announcement: A Video on South-South Cooperation

    • • The video presentation will highlight the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF)
        • The initiative is between Egypt and Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali and the Central African Republic
        • The purpose is to help African nations develop cotton processing capabilities, which generates more revenue than exporting raw cotton

Cotton Australia is holding a Photo Contest with a $100 prize 

• Cotton Australia is holding a Photo Contest open to all who live Down Under

Taiwan's Plans for 7 October: Engage the next generation

• With its World Cotton Day plans, Taiwan will do two of the most important things anyone in the cotton industry can do: attract new, young professionals and engage directly with the textile industry. Alex Liao, Director General of Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, has arranged a meeting for 100 people, including 30 textile design students, to visit an organic cotton field.
• The visit's agenda includes an education on cotton's benefits, an explanation of the ICAC and its activities and the meaning of World Cotton Day. 
• All participants will receive a cotton face mask with the World Cotton Day and ICAC logos.
• Because 30 students will be involved, the event will be held on Saturday, 26 September and the video will be released on Wednesday, 7 October.

A Gathering of VIPs: Egyptian Ministers to 'Meet' with ICAC Secretariat on 7 October

• Dr Mohamed Negm of the International Cotton Researchers Association (ICRA) has arranged a 90-minute event in Cairo

Taiwan Expands Existing Plans for 7 October, Adds Dyeing Workshop

• Alex Liao, Director General of Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, has given the green light to another Taiwan activity for World Cotton Day 2020

  • It will be held on Monday, September 28 (Monday)

  • Purpose: This workshop will teach one traditional dyeing skill, which will make unique, beautiful effect in cotton fabric.

  • This dyeing method is only workable on cotton fabric (synthetic fabric cannot be used).

  • The goal is to demonstrate some unique advantages that cotton vs man-made fibres.

Bremen to Release Three Consumer-Oriented Videos

• The Bremen Cotton Exchange (BBB) has created three videos with the slogan, ‘There Is More to Cotton than You Think’

  • The goal is to highlight the positive features of the fibre and to illustrate its global meaning.

  • The professionally produced short films can be watched on the internet as well as on selected platforms on 7 October.

  • As it did in 2019, a large poster that is visible from long distances will be attached to the Bremen Cotton Exchange's wall during the entire week of the World Cotton Day.
    • The poster calls attention to cotton as the livelihood for about 150 million people worldwide. 

Cotton South Africa to Hold Two Events on World Cotton Day

• What started as a small idea has now, thanks to the commitment of many people, literally turned into a full-blown cotton event involving international stakeholders — including the ICAC. CottonSA will be holding two separate events on 7 October:
  • The first is a live-streamed webinar that is scheduled to be broadcast at 15:00 (SA time zone) on 7 October. ICAC Executive Director Kai Hughes will be one of the panelists participating in the panel discussion.
     
  • There will also be a face-to-face media engagement session in partnership with the Nasional Press Club and the Agriculture Writers Association (limited to approximately 50 people) that will take place at Alphine Attitude in Pretoria (beginning at 14:30).
    • During the physical media event, guests will watch the webinar live on a big screen. After the webinar, the event will continue to provide the media with further opportunities to ask questions and network, thus offering a rare social opportunity during the era of COVID!
       

Brazil to Engage Entire Cotton Supply Chain

• Brazil has so many things planned for World Cotton Day that it will take an entire week to fit them all in:
  • The theme of the 2020 World Cotton Day celebration in Brazil is, ‘Cotton: The Fibre that Moves Me’.
  • It’s intended to show consumers how prevalent and important cotton is in our daily lives.
  • It involves the entire cotton supply chain and targets consumers through the use of hugely popular social media influencers including ArlindoGrund, host of SBT Brazil TV program ‘What not to Wear’.

  • Brazil’s ‘World Cotton Week’ begins on 4 October with online posts and videos and its main video, ‘What Sets Me in Motion’, will make its debut the following day.

  • On World Cotton Day, another video highlighting all kinds of cotton products will be released, and on 9 October, photos and posts from the influencers will be compiled to show their reach and impact.

  • The days in between will see the launch of a cotton boll-inspired t-shirt, a webinar on the use of cotton in fashion, press events with Brazilian media and even a press kit for Parliament members containing a cotton apron, napkins and placemats.

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