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London – Better Cotton will provide update on its nascent Uzbekistan cotton pilot program, which seeks to establish a traceability system in a country that had been shunned by the global market for many years.
In May 2022, the U.S.-based Cotton Campaign lifted its 13-year-old international boycott of Uzbek cotton. The organization, which included more than 300 businesses and brands, said it found the government was no longer used forced labor to bring the country’s cotton crop.
“Uzbekistan’s recently privatized cotton industry is organized under vertically integrated businesses known as ‘clusters’, creating an operating environment that is conducive to tracing cotton,” said Better Cotton.
The cotton sustainability program will spotlight its efforts to trace cotton in Uzbekistan during this week’s Global Fashion Summit, which got underway today in Copenhagen. The Better Cotton program in Uzbekistan launched last year as part of its work to scale the availability of more sustainable cotton. Uzbekistan is the world’s sixth largest cotton producing country.
To pilot program involves the vertically integrated operations of Navbahor Tekstil, a company based in the city of Navoi. To assist the work, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has established a digital platform capable of logging the movement of Better Cotton from a licensed farm through the ginning, spinning, weaving and manufacturing processes.
“Traceable materials and transparent supply chains are of utmost importance to leading retailers and brands, and we’re well-positioned to support their goals,” said Alan McClay, CEO of Better Cotton.
Beyond its work in Uzbekistan, Better Cotton plans to improve the traceability of cotton globally and will later this year launch its own system to unite supply chain actors in data exchange.
Better Cotton’s traceability solution will enable retailer and brand members to verify the country of origin of the physical Better Cotton within their products, meeting the industry’s need for supply chain transparency.
See also:
- To infinity and beyond: Organic cotton enters the space age
- Major retailers have a hand in pilot program aiming to shore up cotton transparency in India
