Committed BCI Retailer and Brand Members have significantly contributed to the dramatic growth of Better Cotton over the past eight years, helping to drive BCI towards its 2020 target of having Better Cotton account for 30% of global cotton production. They are supporting market transformation by integrating Better Cotton into their raw materials strategies and driving demand for more sustainable cotton production worldwide.
While all BCI Retailer and Brand Members are contributing to the sustainable future of cotton, we would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the leaders.
In 2017, 71 BCI Retailer and Brand Members sourced a record-breaking 736,000 metric tonnes of Better Cotton. The following members are the top 15 (in descending order) based on their total Better Cotton sourcing volumes in the 2017 calendar year1. Together they sourced a significant proportion of the total volume of Better Cotton.
1. Hennes & Mauritz AB
2. Ikea Supply AG
3. adidas AG
4. Gap Inc.
5. Nike, Inc.
6. Levi Strauss & Co.
7. C&A AG
8. Decathlon SA
9. VF Corporation
10. Bestseller
11. PVH Corp.
12. Marks and Spencer PLC
13. Tesco Clothing
14. PUMA SE
15. Varner Retail AS
In addition to considering total volume, the percentage of a company’s overall portfolio of more sustainable cotton is also important. For some retailers and brands, Better Cotton accounts for a substantial percentage of their total cotton sourcing. adidas AG – who have been steadily working to meet a 100% Better Cotton sourcing target by 2018 – sourced more than 90% of their cotton as Better Cotton in 2017. DECATHLON SA, Hemtex AB, Ikea Supply AG and Stadium AB sourced more than 75% of their cotton as Better Cotton1.
We would also like to highlight the “fastest movers’ of 2017 – adidas AG, ASOS, DECATHLON SA, Gap Inc., Gina Tricot AB, G-Star RAW C.V., HEMA B.V., Hennes & Mauritz AB, IdKIds Sas, Just Brands B.V., KappAhl Sverige AB, KID Interi√∏r AS, MQ Holding AB and Varner Retail AS. These retailers and brands increased their volumes of cotton sourced as Better Cotton by the highest number of percentage points compared to the previous year (2016).
BCI’s demand-driven funding model means that retailer and brand sourcing of Better Cotton directly translates to increased investment in training for cotton farmers on more sustainable practices. In the 2017-18 cotton season, BCI Retailer and Brand Members contributed more than ‚Ǩ6.4 million enabling more than 1 million farmers across China, India, Mozambique, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Senegal to receive support and training*. Visit Stories from the Field on the BCI website to learn first-hand from farmers about the benefits they are experiencing from implementing the Better Cotton Standard System.
Please visit the Better Cotton Leaderboard on the BCI website for more information. Here you will find a list of all the retailers and brands that contributed to the collective demand for 736,000 metric tonnes of Better Cotton in 2017, along with the leading cotton traders and mills in terms of volumes of Better Cotton sourced.
Transforming cotton production worldwide requires commitment and collaboration. We are proud to be working together with all BCI Members and Partners to create a more sustainable sector.
*While the investment from BCI Retailer and Brand Members (mobilised through the Better Cotton Growth and Innovation Fund) reached over one million farmers in the 2017-2018 season, the Better Cotton Initiativeis forecast to reach and train a total of 1.7 million cotton farmers in the season. The final figures will be released in BCI’s 2018 Annual Report.
[1]By “sourcing cotton as Better Cotton,’ BCI is referring to the action taken by members when they place orders for cotton-containing products. It does not refer to the cotton present in the finished product. BCI uses a chain of custody model called Mass Balance whereby volumes of Better Cotton are tracked on an online sourcing platform. Better Cotton may be mixed with or replaced by conventional cotton in its journey from field to product, however, the volumes of Better Cotton claimed by members on the online platform never exceeds the volumes physically procured by spinners and traders.
