Travelling to Kazakhstan – a country that has been hugely affected by cotton production – Stacey discovers just how badly fashion can affect the environment. Back in the 1960s, the country was home to the Aral Sea. Covering 68,000 sq km, it was one of the biggest inland seas in the world and full of fish, wildlife, and a hotspot for tourists. But it has been shrinking since 1960 as a result of cotton production. The water has all but gone, and it looks like a desert, with one of the rivers that fed it – the Amu Darya – diverted into cotton-production farms and sucked dry before it could reach the sea.