Are We Winning the Battle for Market Share?

I’ll admit I’m not the most social-media savvy guy. I’ve been intentional, in recent years, about spending more time offline.

I deleted my personal Twitter account a long time ago. I’ve avoided TikTok altogether, in spite of my teenage niece’s advice. I try to “touch grass” more than I’m touching my computer’s keyboard.

So, I could be forgiven, I hope, for missing a major shift in online attitudes towards cotton’s competitors. Apparently, right under our noses, the younger generations have turned on polyester and other manmade fibers. What a pleasant surprise!

In late August, The Guardian columnist Hannah Marriott reported that young people on TikTok are using the word “polyester” as a pejorative. In her column titled “It gives Shien: how did polyester become the world’s most-hated material?” Marriott says online teenagers are using the word “polyester” as an adjective to describe something that looks cheap or distasteful. The use of the word as a diss underscores their feelings about the fabric itself. Polyester, Marriott says, is declining in popularity, largely due to over-saturation in the market, and health concerns that are at least partially attributable to microplastics.

Earlier in the summer, media brand The Business of Fashion ran a separate story entitled “Why Consumers are Ditching Polyester for Natural Fibers.” Similar to the Guardian feature, the author here concludes that health concerns — as well as oversaturation of cheap, low-quality polyester clothing — were turning consumers away from manmade fibers.

Apparently, the tide is turning so sharply against polyester that The Atlantic saw fit to publish a feature in September titled “The Backlash Against Polyester Has Gone Too Far.” I was just happy to learn that there had been a backlash!

Of course, the full picture of global mill-use and demand for manmade fibers is much more complex than these feature stories would suggest. Polyester accounts for almost 60% of all mill-use globally. It’s popularity worldwide can be attributed to a number of things — not least of which is its abundant supply and subsequent cheap price tag — the exact things young fashion-forward TikTok users are critical of.

But popular opinion does indeed swing from time to time. And, in some corners of the consumer world, natural fibers are swinging back into the fore.

It’s worth noting here that the Cotton Board and Cotton Incorporated have said many times that they have focused marketing and messaging towards online influencers on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. This is, after all, where the younger generations are exposed to popular trends in fashion. And, according to The Guardian and others, this is where the backlash against manmade fibers has found its footing. Maybe those marketing professionals over at Cotton Incorporated had the right idea all along.

Whatever the case may be, let’s hope that this online trend translates into some real-world market share gains for cotton. Even a one percent shift in cotton’s global market share could result in over six million bales taken off the global balance sheet. This would have a significant impact on the price of a pound of cotton.

So, carry on, young folks on social media! We are proud to count you as allies.