World Cotton Day
Next: October 7, 2027
Grown by someone, worn by you.
The story
Where it comes from
World Cotton Day began with four West African cotton-growing countries, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, known as the Cotton-4. At their request the World Trade Organization hosted the first celebration on 7 October 2019, and on 30 August 2021 the UN General Assembly proclaimed the day (resolution 75/318). It celebrates the most important natural fibre, the one in our shirts and sheets, and the millions of smallholder farmers and workers who depend on it.
How it's celebrated
FAO, the WTO, the International Trade Centre and their partners hold an annual celebration, in Benin in 2024 and in Rome in 2025, with talks on fair trade and young designers working with cotton. Elsewhere it is a day to read a label, choose a well-made cotton piece that will last, or find out where the cotton in your wardrobe was grown.
Did you know
- A single tonne of cotton provides, on average, year-round work for five people, often in some of the poorest regions.
- China and India grow the most cotton, while Bangladesh and Viet Nam are the largest importers.
- Cotton's share of the world's fibre use has fallen from 60 per cent in the 1960s to 22 per cent in 2024, as synthetic fibres have grown.
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