The concept of American produced and made, 100 percent cotton scrubs is becoming a reality thanks to a Field to Closet campaign. The initiative’s debut event was held on April 9 at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture in Tifton, Ga., and will conclude this summer with 15 rural Georgia hospitals getting free medical scrubs. The ceremony was attended by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. This project uses Georgia-grown cotton from Deltapine® seed to restore American manufacturing by rejuvenating an end-to-end U.S. supply chain through innovative, collaborative collaborations. The initiative’s foundation is based on agriculture, and it offers a Farmer GiveBack program to address a basic issue in the garment industry, in which the most significant profit is often made by the brand or end sale.
Because the rebirth of a strong cotton garment industry is impossible without the grower, the GiveBack program is meant to ensure that the producer is financially involved by participating in the profits of the goods produced. Field to Closet collaborated with America Knits in Swainsboro, Ga., to source Deltapine seed cotton grown in Georgia, which was spun into yarn at Parkdale Mills in Rabun Gap, Ga., and woven into fabric at Hornwood in Lilesville, N.C., before arriving at America Knits for the scrubs’ final production. This fabric is coated with PROTX2® AV, which is an added benefit for medical scrubs. This antimicrobial technique stops bacteria from growing and has been demonstrated to kill viruses in lab testing.
