One of the concept that I think has been the backbone of a lot of the sustainability research I have been doing is that of the textile chain. The textile chain can be defined as the steps that fiber undergoes in order to become a piece of fabric or a garment. There are various different chains associated with different fibers, and even more specific chains associated with those different fibers (take worsted and woolen, for example).
Something that I have noticed while looking at various different business models is that mass production = less variety in tasks accomplished. It appears that the bigger the operation, the fewer tasks the operation is actually able to carry out. For instance, a cotton farmer who is growing acres upon acres of cotton and relying on that crop for income is only going to have enough headspace to focus on the act of growing and harvesting. They will not have the time nor energy to worry about processing the cotton into something other than what it is in its organic form. Because of this, they are most likely not going to be specific about who they are selling their product to. So, another large operation is likely going to be the one to purchase the thousands of pounds of cotton (take a ginning factory in Indonesia, for instance), which they will only have the power to see it through the ginning process and nothing else. Thus, the textile chain becomes globalized and you find yourself with a pair of pants that were grown in Texas, processed in India, sewn in Bangladesh, dyed in China, and distributed in Turkey.
This is something that I think the cottage industry model offers a better alternative to. Oftentimes, that small scale production is what allows craftspeople to take part in more than one step of that chain. I do believe that this is a marketing point that small businesses really should be able to use to their advantage. In the case of khadi cotton, I believe it was just that “marketing” strategy (in the form of the Swadeshi movement) that has lead to its endurance over time in a market flooded with cheaper alternatives. In the same way, hand knit jerseys and tweed from the islanders of Scotland & Ireland are not heavily sought after for their pricing or convenience, but for their locality and the traditional narrative and histories associated with them. This allows the wearer to make a statement on their values, which is fashion, in a lot of ways, in its truest form.