Artistic Milliners launches cotton traceability programme
08/10/2020
Milliner Cotton will be a system through which cotton farmers have access to digital tools to help them better understand the weather and soils, offering tools to maximise the harvest.
It also includes a training programme for the workers, to boost skills at work and at home, such as financial literacy, and will help to improve standards at the ginning level, where there are currently no certifications, according to Faiza Jamil, general manager of corporate and social responsibility.
She said: “We think ownership has to be taken by someone who is buying the fibre, so Milliner Cotton is our journey to explore everything that happens with the cotton pickers, farmers, transporters, ginners, brokers and how the cotton finally gets to us.”
The programme is being piloted in Rahim Yar Khan, a district that is home to 150 ginning mills. The aim is to get Fairtrade certification after the third year.
Artistic Milliners CEO Omer Ahmed (pictured) said: “There is a plethora of sustainable cotton standards and programs in the market. One very legit question is why a new standard is needed? The answer is simple. Existing cotton standards are focused on a particular area for improvement e.g. in best management practices or at the farm level. There are none that views cotton supply chain as a whole ecosystem and proposes interventions based on the complex inter-relationships of all supply chain players. Milliner Cotton intends to do just that.”
Artistic Milliners has also joined the Textile Exchange. It said: “Artistic Milliners is proud to join Textile Exchange in its commitment to reduce the textile industry’s impact on the environment through accelerating sustainable practices across its value chain.”
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