Among the most recent OCA contributors are Levi Strauss & Co, G-Star Raw, Bonprix and The Sting Companies, and manufacturers Arvind Limited and Norlanka Manufacturing.
OCA explains its community of contributors champion, grow, supply, and buy organic cotton, which helps to develop a more transparent, resilient, and responsible supply chain – with successful farmers and a planet protected for the future.
The organisation also claims that before it was established in 2016, the organic cotton sector was fragmented with no common vision to scale up and make organic cotton farming pay, especially for the farmer.
Earlier this year, OCA hailed “enormous growth” in the number of farmers joining its programme, with as many as 80,000 farmer participants in the cotton season of 2021/22.
Levi Strauss & Co’s chief sustainability officer, Jeffrey Hogue, says: “We are proud to join Organic Cotton Accelerator, because for the first time, we’ll be able to source direct from organic cotton farmers and work with others to identify scalable solutions for the industry. Organic Cotton Accelerator is unique in that it unites the global organic cotton sector. It enables measurable improvements to farmers’ livelihoods and local communities, creating conditions for change. This partnership strengthens our strategy to source more sustainable cotton for our products and provides new opportunities to solve the challenge facing our industry.”
Meanwhile, Bonprix’s vice president of corporate responsibility and technical product, Stefanie Sumfleth, sees joining OCA as a natural step in the company’s broader sustainability strategy for cotton.
“At around 50%, cotton is our most widely used fibre. Today, 99% of our purchased cotton contributes to more sustainable cotton farming. By 2025, at least 25% of the cotton we use should be fully certified and traceable – from the fields to the finished product. We believe that contributing to the OCA is an important step in achieving our goal while leveraging the strength of the industry for change.”
