Third #WhoMadeMyCotton report focuses on traders
According to the latest #WhoMadeMyCotton report from denim consultants Ani Wells (Simply Suzette) and Anne Oudard (Cotton Diaries), only 17.2% of denim buyers can “always” specify the name of their cotton trader, with 44.8% replying “sometimes” and 37.9% answering “never”.
The document was put together to shed new light on how the denim industry secures its raw cotton at this very early stage in the supply chain. According to its co-authors, all the traders, brokers and merchants they spoke to “had been contacted by brands that were looking at ways to set up traceable cotton sourcing methods”.
As one interviewee noted, the supply chain post-spinning mill is not as airtight as the more direct route from farmer to spinner, which the International Cotton Association oversees. Examples of best practices cited in the text, however, include Haelixa, TextileGenesis and The Sourcery.
The authors also recommend engaging traders further in conversations around sustainability, including how to make related initiatives such as regenerative growing programmes more economically viable through use of carbon credits, for example.
Find the full report here.
