Billy Reid Taps Into Old-School Tradition by Growing His Own Organic Cotton

American designer Billy Reid grows his own organic cotton in the South, emphaszing sustainibility and tradtional craftsmanship.

Image via NPR

Often referred to as the “Ralph Lauren of the South,” Billy Reid has never been afraid to let his hometown roots show through his menswear offerings. From his seer sucker suits and denim button-ups, to tailored chinos and basic henleys, this Louisiana-born designer has built a reputation on crafting clothes that nod to the South, not only in aesthetics but also in old-school craft. And we mean very old-school.

Reid is one of a few designers who has a line of organic apparel made from his own cotton field—a move that maintains authenticity as well as preserves the longstanding tradition of clothes-making in the Deep South.

“I think the original idea really came from just driving through these areas in the fall when cotton is being picked and baled," says K.P. McNeill, Reid’s business partner. “It got him thinking about whether all that cotton was being shipped overseas when companies right here could be using it [...] Can we go from seed to finished product in the same community?”

Reid got on board with the idea, but wanted to ensure it was done organically, meaning no pesticides, no herbicides and no machines contaminated by those chemicals. He knew he had to adopt an old-fashioned process in order to achieve this, which would require workers to pick the cotton by hand.

"It's not just your normal cotton operation that's automated," Reid says. "You really are going back to a somewhat primitive way—a primitive process to pick the cotton and to farm the cotton."

This method is not only beneficial to the environment and local business, it also results in a much cleaner look for the clothes—a look that Americans haven’t seen since cotton was “an agent of destruction in this country,” explains designer Natalie Chanin, who partnered up with Reid to create a limited run of organic T-shirts, socks, and scarves.

“I mean, cotton has a really ugly history. And it has had an ugly history all over the world. It has built fortunes, it's destroyed nations, it's enslaved people," she says. "But to me this cotton ... is part of making a new story for cotton."

[via NPR]

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