Representatives from 120 BCI Member organisations gathered in New Delhi last week, bringing the entire cotton supply chain together in a truly collaborative effort to develop Better Cotton as a sustainable mainstream commodity.
From cotton bale to consumer, ginners, spinners, fabric mills, garment manufacturers, retailers and brands from across the country attended the BCI Regional Members’ Meeting to learn, network and ultimately increase uptake of Better Cotton.Inspiring presentations, networking sessions, panel discussions and one-to-one meetings enabled attendees from both supply and demand to share perspectives and best practices and to discuss both successes and challenges in producing and sourcing Better Cotton.
The day began with interactive sessions which provided a platform for one-to-one conversations and for attendees to network and build valuable business connections. In the afternoonpresentations were given by industry experts, including Suresh Kotak, Chairman at Kotak Commodities; Pramit Chanda, Cotton and Apparel Programme Director at IDH; and Kushal Shah, Trader at Paul Reinhart.Representatives from Splash – the first BCI Retailer and Brand Member from the Middle East – and IKEA also gave presentations on their commitments to sustainability.
To round the day off, a BCI Retailer and Brand Member’s panel discussion saw representatives from GAP, IKEA, Varner and Decathlon share the story of their BCI journey and sustainability experiences.
Vinay Kumar,Membership Coordinator (India) commented, ”It was brilliant to see so many different actors from across the cotton supply chain coming together in such a collaborative manner. The BCI Regional Member Meetings are designed to provide practical advice and guidance to member organisations and also to facilitate opportunities for increased Better Cotton uptake.”
In India, there are more than 408,000 farmers licensed to grow and sell Better Cotton – in the 2015/16 season they produced 373,000 metric tonnes of Better Cotton lint. The 2015/16 Harvest Report containing the latest farm results will be published shortly.
Additional BCI Regional Member Meetings will take place in Pakistan, Bangladesh and China in the coming months. For more information please visit ourevents page.
