• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, April 6, 2012

Cotton Inc. is rolling out two new TV spots, the latest iteration of its “The Fabric of My Life” campaign, featuring actresses Emmy Rossum and Camilla Belle. 

The new effort is a tale of two cities, with Rossum, best known for her lead role in HBO’s “Shameless,” taking viewers on a ride through her native New York, from black-tie events to straphanging. And Belle’s spot tells a Los Angeles story, with the Brazilian actress tap dancing through the lobby of the Chandler Pavilion, and then shopping in a farmer’s market.

The ads, created by DDB, are supported by such digital assets as a multimedia tour of Emmy Rossum’s closet, categorized by occasions, which allows users to share clothes through social media and buy similar looks for themselves, and a blog by Belle. There will also be audio and lyric downloads of the new cotton songs.  

Cotton Inc. says that The Fabric Of My Life campaign, now in its fourth year, has been backed by $65 million, and has generated a 50% recall score among the primary demographic (women 18-34), and 40% recall among the secondary demographic (women 35-54). It will reportedly spend $20 million on the Rossum and Belle effort.

“Cotton is everyone’s hometown fabric,” says Glenn Sciachitano, Cotton Inc.’s advertising director, in its release, “and we are delighted to have two such beautiful and talented young women represent the distinctive styles of their hometowns, which influence fashion trends across the U.S. The range of cotton fashions in the commercials shows that whether you dress East Coast, West Coast or anything in between, cotton fits.”

The new effort comes amid tumultuous times for the cotton business. Moody’s Investors Service recently raised its outlook for the U.S. apparel industry, saying that plummeting cotton prices, which have dropped 60% in the last year, should improve profits, and that the economy’s slow recovery should keep demand on an even keel.