IKEA announces that since September 2015, 100 percent of its cotton comes from more sustainable sources. This achievement highlights the impressive work of BCI’s Pioneer Members, who together are driving change in the cotton industry.
BCI’s Pioneer Members are a group of visionary retailers and brands leading the way to more sustainable business practices. In addition to IKEA, adidas, H&M, Nike, Levi Strauss & Co. and M&S have all set ambitious public targets pledging to source more sustainable cotton.
”We are very proud of the work we do with our members. Their commitment to BCI is extremely important to us, as it helps support the work of our farmers and drives demand for Better Cotton throughout the supply chain,” says Paola Geremicca, BCI Programme Director of Fundraising and Communications.
It is five years since BCI Farmers produced their first Better Cotton harvest, and there are now over one million farmers growing Better Cotton in 20 countries. By 2020, BCI aims to reach 5 million farmers worldwide.
Richard Holland, Director of the WWF Market Transformation Initiative, says the goal has always been ”a world in which cotton is produced with substantially less impact on people and nature, and with farmers making a decent living from growing the crop.”
Upon its milestone, BCI applauds IKEA’s achievement and celebrates the work of all our members. BCI has over 600 members sourcing and supplying Better Cotton at all stages of the textile supply chain. Led by a group of pioneering organisations, they can be proud of their efforts to make a responsible alternative the mainstream norm.
BCI’s Programme Director of Demand, Ruchira Joshi, says, ”BCI is its members. We could not have gotten this far without their ongoing support and commitment. We remain a member-led organisation and welcome all stakeholders in the textile supply chain to join us in improving the future of cotton.”
