Each day I look at the cotton up close - the way it catches the light and the way it settles when it has been unfolded. Yet this day has made me reflect on the past. Before it got into our wardrobes, before it was cut and stitched and then hung in our store, it was in a field. Somebody picked it. Somebody sorted it. Somebody sent it on a long journey so that I should be able to stand here now, holding it and wearing it. I'll never get to meet the hands that grew the thing I wear. Nor will you. But there is a thread that links that field to your shoulders. And today I caught myself thinking about that thread.
Cotton is quiet, it breathes in time with your own breathing, it becomes softer rather than wearing down, This has been going on for thousands of years across civilizations , and today we simply take a moment to say that we've noticed it. At Bare Brown we handle cotton every single day - we fold it, we look after it, and we send it out hoping that it will become part of someone's ordinary life. That is what this day is about - not the impressive or spectacular things, but the everyday trust that exists between the plant, the field, a pair of hands far away, and the person who buttons a shirt on a Tuesday morning without giving it a second thought.
Well, today when you are wearing that cotton shirt - perhaps just stop for a moment. That's all. Take a single breath. For the journey it took to get to you.
World Cotton Day
-Mr Brown
