Cotton farming negatively impacts the environment because of high water usage, pesticides, and carbon emissions. Garment manufacturers can adopt methods of cotton recycling to reduce these effects. Large clothing companies have the most influence over the retail environment and therefore should be the first to make the change to more sustainable production methods. If a national retailer was to use recycled cotton in their manufacturing it could cause other retailers to do the same in order to compete. To explore this issue in the fashion industry, the focus of this study is to analyze cotton recycling methods that could be adopted by large fashion companies. Research methods will include an analysis of retailers using recycled cotton and their methods, research on consumers' shopping preferences, and an interview with an industry professor who specializes in fashion on a global scale. Advancements in technology are opening doors to simplify the process of producing recycled cotton and to make them the industry norm. A positive outcome of this research would be to inform national fashion companies about alternative recycling and production methods that will be less harmful to the environment than the methods they are currently using.

.