Blue Seed is a hybrid cotton variety and a tool of Candiani Denim’s cotton traceability system. Blue Seed is a non-GMO (genetically modified organism) created through controlled pollination between two selected parent plants. We developed it with Gowan Seed Company to neutralize fake news linked to sustainability, improve our value chain traceability and transparency, and produce durable fabric.
Blue Seed is hybrid cotton farmed using regenerative agriculture practices
Blue Seed is hybrid cotton co-engineered with Gowan Seed Company, an international group with diversified interests in the agriculture industry, and sourced from two farms, Bowles Farming Company in California and Algosur in Andalusia. Cotton seeds are assigned to the desired farmers and grown using regenerative agriculture practices, which mainly aim to enhance soil health and rebalance ecosystems. It is an ongoing improvement process.
Blue Seed neutralizes fake news about sustainability and improves the traceability and transparency system
Every day we hear and read much fake news about sustainability. Some bogus GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certificates were issued some time ago, while they should be a guarantee of sustainable and responsible development in the textile industry. Developing our own seed has allowed us to neutralize fake news about how cotton is produced and trace everything happening in our entire value chain.
Candiani Denim has exclusive access to Blue Seed, sold by Gowan Seed Company. Contrary to what usually occurs, we do not work only with those farmers who grow cotton but also with the direct seed provider. Being aware of all the details of our entire value chain allows us to improve our products’ traceability and transparency and ensure that we get cotton with precisely the features we need.
Candiani Denim combines Blue Seed and recycled cotton
Blue Seed cotton is included in denim to give the fabric higher strength and durability and make a perfect blend with shorter stable fibers, such as recycled cotton. Candiani Denim uses it in its PCR (post-consumer recycled) fabrics, in combination with the weaker yarns obtained from old used jeans. Thanks to its superior qualities, Blue Seed cotton allows us to include a great percentage of recycled cotton in our PCR products, up to 26%.
What is hybrid vigor or heterosis?
Hybrid seeds such as Blue Seed provoke a phenomenon known as hybrid vigor or heterosis, meaning that a hybrid offspring has improved biological functions to its parents. The new plant expresses these particular traits greater than either parent alone.
Blue Seed is meant to be the best of two worlds: the high quality of extra-long staple cotton and the robustness of Upland cotton. The first is considered the finest and softest, while the second is the most common worldwide and includes many varieties differing in their specific properties. The combination of the types of cotton creates a fiber with superior physical qualities.
Blue Seed is also more resistant in the field. It requires a lower amount of water and chemicals to be grown and is hence an excellent rotational crop that can be used in regenerative agriculture. It was indeed specifically conceived to be farmed even under arid soil conditions.