“It’s been 25 years since a new cotton spinning mill with this type of specialisation has been opened in Italy,” continues Arioldi.
“Ours is a medium-term project, it will take a few years to achieve the expected results. But the main luxury brands are very interested in Itaco, because it is a project that responds to the need for transparency and sustainability that the market requires today.
“Instead of travelling thousands of kilometers around the world, we are able to offer a garment of clothing that has traveled only 1,300 km from the field to the finished product. An organic, traceable cotton, also with the possibility of geolocalisation.”
The most ambitious challenge for Beste is to be able to produce a high quality fibre, capable of meeting the demands of luxury brands.
To do this, Airoldi has set up a team of expert Greek, Israeli and American agronomists, to help create the best possible quality organic cotton and to improve the quality of the seed.
To help succeed in this challenge, all of the growers involved in the project were recruited from the world of organic farming.
“It was easier to teach how to grow organic cotton to those who already worked with organic products. Even if the farmers produced vegetables, they had the right approach and the right soil, which is why we managed to quickly convert the fields,” adds Airoldi.
“We use drip irrigation systems, which allowed us to reduce water consumption to 2,000 cubic metres per hectare. And then we use probes underground to evaluate the humidity of the soil. There is still a lot of work to do, but we are collecting the first results.”
Naturally, Itaco cotton will initially have a higher price than similar quality cotton produced in other parts of the world. However, the goal is to align the price of Itaco with that of US organic Supima within four years.
The ginning and weaving phases carried out in Italy have a further impact on the final cost, but these are also among the strengths of the initiative which was created to respond to the traceability needs of luxury brands.
Itaco also marks a new phase for the Italian textile supply chain, which until now has never been interested in producing fibres, but only in transforming them.
More and more attempts are now being made by small farmers and young start-ups to return to producing native fibres, albeit mostly small projects aimed at niche markets.
The scale of Beste’s investment suggests there may be a chance for some to reach industrial scale – even when production is slow and follows the rhythms of nature.
Prospects for the harvest? “It’s going well, germination was excellent,” concludes Airoldi. “To be sure, all we have to do is wait for autumn.”
