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Cotton news and archive

Cotton made in Africa cooperates with African Cotton Foundation

The Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) initiative will join forces with the African Cotton Foundation (ACF) to promote socially and ecologically sustainable cotton cultivation. This includes training and other implementation measures conducted by cotton companies in the CmiA project countries, which will be coordinated by the AFC. They can now apply...

21 Apr 2021

Fashion

The Xinjiang cotton controversy has taken to the catwalk

The Xinjiang cotton-gate impasse has taken another turn, this time on the catwalk, as Chinese designers are pledging its use in their collections. At the end of China Fashion Week in March, Chinese brand Sun-Bird’s creative director Zhou Li took a bow at the end of her show – demonstratively holding a bouquet of cotton plants. Solidarity with...

7 Apr 2021

Retail

Inditex accused of turning a blind eye amid rising tensions in China boycott crisis

On Thursday, China, backed by the Chinese government itself, started retaliating against the Western boycott of cotton produced in the ‘Uyghur labor camps’ of Xinjiang, calling for its own boycott against international fashion companies. The boycott primarily affected Swedish retail giant H&M on Thursday, but is now also being launched against...

26 Mar 2021

Fashion

Ralph Lauren unveils scalable zero-wastewater cotton dyeing system

Ralph Lauren Corporation has launched Color on Demand, a “revolutionary” dyeing platform that aims to transform the way the fashion industry colors cotton. The multi-phased system dyes cotton more sustainably, more effectively and faster than other methods, according to the brand, and aims to eventually deliver “the world’s first scalable zero...

23 Mar 2021

Fashion

Superdry brings forward organic cotton targets by five years

Superdry has brought forward its organic cotton targets by five years. That means the British fashion retailer now aims for all of its pure cotton garments to be produced entirely from organic cotton by 2025. By that point, 65 percent of all garments that contain any amount of cotton will be derived from organic cotton sources. The target is...

17 Mar 2021

Business

Pandemic recovery to boost cotton production in 2021

Global cotton production is expected to decline by 8 percent to 24 million tonnes in the coming season, with double-digit decreases in projected in the United States, Brazil, Pakistan, West Africa, Turkey and Uzbekistan, according to figures released by the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC). Because some of those decreases are...

4 Feb 2021

Fashion

UK tightens rules on China-picked cotton

The origin of Chinese cotton has never been more relevant as the world distances itself from supply chains with links to Uighur-picked cotton in the Xinjiang region. This week Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told MPs exports will be monitored to ensure goods are not being used in camps where Uighur are among minorities being held. The BBC said UK...

13 Jan 2021

Business

Panel discussion: Can common cotton claims be debunked?

Is cotton as bad as its reputation when it comes to water consumption, pesticide and insecticide dependency and land usage? A recent panel discussion titled “Cotton claims - the good, the bad and the nuanced” as part of the Truth Series by the Transformers Foundation - founded early last year as part of the global Kingpins Transformers trade...

13 Jan 2021

Fashion

Marks & Spencer signs call to action over forced labour in Xinjiang, China

Marks & Spencer has become one of the first companies to formally sign a call to action over human rights violations in Xinjiang, China, where Uighurs and other minority groups are reportedly being forced into manual labour. In December, a new report released by the Washington-based Center for Global Policy found that more than half a million...

6 Jan 2021

Business

US blocks imports of cotton and textiles from Xinjiang

US Customs will block certain products from Xinjiang because Washington believes they were made in the Chinese autonomous region with the help of slave labour. This is a “modern form of slavery,” said the Ministry of Homeland Security on Monday. The US Government accused China of curtailing human and civil liberties and using forced labour to...

15 Sep 2020

Business

Cotton Ranking 2020: Widening gap between sustainability leaders and laggers

For the fourth time, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Solidaridad and the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) UK have analysed the largest cotton users (with around 10,000 tonnes of cotton/year) among international apparel brands and retailers according to their public objectives and policies, the share of sustainable cotton and transparency in their...

13 Feb 2020

Fashion

How cotton picked with forced labor in Turkmenistan finds its way to the high street

A new report by Anti-Slavery International reveals how cotton picked with forced labor in Turkmenistan makes its way to high street shops across the world. Every year, tens of thousands of public sector workers, including teachers and doctors, are forced by the government to pick cotton at the harvest, under threat of punishment, according to...

8 Apr 2019