The Organic Cotton Accelerator (OCA) has welcomed a wave of new contributors from across the textile supply chain to support its mission to highlight organic cotton’s potential for positive impact, from field to fashion, for people and the planet, media reported.
Levi Strauss & amp; Co, G-Star Raw, Bonprix and The Sting Companies, and manufacturers Arvind Limited and Norlanka Manufacturing are among the new contributors, media said.
According to the OCA, the community of contributors champion, grow, supply, and buy organic cotton, which helps to develop a more transparent, resilient, and responsible supply chain – with successful farmers and a planet protected for the future.
The organization also claimed that before it was established in 2016, the organic cotton sector was fragmented with no common vision to scale up and make organic cotton farming pay, especially for the farmer.
Earlier, OCA hailed “enormous growth” in the number of farmers joining its programme, with as many as 80,000 farmer participants in the cotton season of 2021/22.
Speaking to the media, Levi Strauss & Co’s chief sustainability officer, Jeffrey Hogue, said that they are proud to join OCA as for the first time, they’ll be able to source directly from organic cotton farmers and work with others to identify scalable solutions for the industry.
Bonprix’s vice president of corporate responsibility and technical product, Stefanie Sumfleth, told the media that joining OCA is a natural step in the company’s broader sustainability strategy for cotton, saying that around 50%, of cotton, is the most widely used fiber.
Moreover, 99% of purchased cotton contributes to more sustainable cotton farming and by 2025, at least 25% of the cotton should be fully certified and traceable – from the fields to the finished product, he added.
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