Changes to the Better Cotton Initiative Certification

Happy Thursday!

We’re excited to kick off our newsletter this week with a discussion on what’s going on in the industry. In conversation this week we’ll dive into some of the new changes to a popular sustainability initiative/certification: The Better Cotton Initiative.

We’ll dive deeper into the cotton industry as a whole, exploring some of the issues with traditional cotton and what are some of the alternatives out there.

We’ll close out with our Brand Partner spotlight and highlight companies making strides in sustainable fashion innovation.

 Thanks for reading!

Headlines

Better Cotton, the world’s largest sustainable cotton initiative, is transitioning to a third party verification scheme. This shift is driven by the need to align with new regulatory requirements, particularly in the EU, and to enhance credibility through third-party assessments. This transition is also expected to address criticisms related to the organization’s controversial past. Better Cotton has come under fire as recent as this year for issues such as greenwashing, human rights violations and links to deforestation. The organization has also lacked a strong and consistent due diligence process throughout its time. 

Better Cotton hopes the new certification model will improve traceability across the supply chain, support continuous improvements in cotton farming and strengthen consumer trust in its practices​. Better Cotton Initiative’s controversial past has raised larger conversations within the industry around greenwashing, particularly with organizations closely tied to major retail brands. This step goes to show the importance of regulation in this space to continue to hold organizations accountable and increase consumer transparency. 

To read more check out the following resources: (1, 2). 

Analysis of the Week

Let’s deep dive into cotton, one of the most important natural and popular fibers for clothing. Although widely used in textiles, it has also come under scrutiny due to its environmental and social impacts. To improve sustainability, various types of cotton farming methods have emerged, offering different approaches to addressing these challenges. Some of the environmental challenges of conventional cotton farming include intensive water consumption, heavy pesticide usage, and soil degradation over time. 

To address the sustainability challenges posed by conventional cotton, several alternatives have emerged, each with unique benefits and approaches: 

Brand Spotlight

Learn about one of the sustainable brands on Trace’s marketplace! Today we’re revisiting one of our first brands!

Check out today’s featured brand: The Poorwill Way

Jess Murray started Poorwill based on a belief that businesses can and should be a force for positive change in the world. She strives to set an example by creating social, environmental and economic value. 

Poorwill values transparency and crafting quality goods that last. Poorwill offers a variety of handmade goods such as hats, bracelets, wallets, and bags. In addition to using high quality materials, Poorwill also offers customers a trade-in program with gently used Poorwill products, so consumers can update their style while previously loved goods can be refurbished or reused to limit the waste generated from these products. 

All goods are slow-made and crafted by the brand creator, Jess, using high quality materials.

Innovation in Fashion

Circ - A BCorp that is looking to build a truly circular fashion economy through its unique technology which allows for true textile recycling which creates quality fibers 

Veshin Factory - Helps brands produce sustainable alternatives to leather which replicates the look and feel of real leather 

Ambercycle - Uses their molecular regeneration technology to recycle textiles and regenerate new textiles such as their polyester alternative cycora®