ABSTRACT

This paper summarizes anthropological and historical research on naturally pigmented, organic cotton fiber production and transformation in Peru, Central America, parts of the Old World and the US. Long-term, interdisciplinary field and archival investigation has permitted a broad reconstruction of production trends, suggesting a cyclical pattern of selection, expansion and decline at both the domestic and industrial levels. This phenomenon is linked to the rise of modern, annual cultivars as well as to western industrial expansion, and in particular to the development of cheap, chemical dyestuffs. The replacement of indigenous stocks by commercial, all- white varieties followed in tropical and sub-tropical (Third World) countries where perennial, pigmented cottons arose independently some five millennia Al the present time, a revival of interest in chemically-free raw materials, minimally handled, environmentally 'friendly' production strategies and transformational processes is contributing to a new demand for naturally pigmented cotton fiber. Organic and naturally colored cotton fiber has recently been reintroduced to US, European and Japanese markets for handicrafts, knits, sweaters, shirts, socks and other apparel by several major clothing manufacturers and specialty producers. However, contrary to previous economic events when cultivation of the cotton plant was limited by nature almost exclusively to tropical and sub-tropical zones, the latest responses to market demands appear to be restricted to only two or three regions where germplasm resources either have been conserved by indigenous peoples (Peru, Guatemala and Mexico) or regenerated from seedbank collections under annualized regimes (the US and the former USSR).