Sourcery explained its transparency programme delivers regional-specific and third-party verified primary data for the cotton value chain.
It added that its programme aims to shift the impact paradigm of sustainable cotton by putting the power of data in the hands of growers, grower organisations and manufacturers.
The company claimed that its programme offers a more robust, accurate, secure, equitable, and, therefore, scalable way of collecting verified primary data that is facilitated through the Sourcery Connect App, which was developed in partnership with Bluenumber, which creates unique digital identities for data.
The Impact and Assurance Programme is said to be an essential part of Sourcery’s Direct-to-Grower Programme and will be rolled out globally over three years in multiple phases.
How does Sourcery's Impact and Assurance Programme work
Sourcery explained its programme makes it is possible to strengthen the authenticity of the fibre origin and materials used in products. It ensures compliance with existing and emerging legislations and meets the demands of growers in a world where climate change and economic volatility are affecting growers and everyone upstream in the supply chain.
The programme is said to further facilitate the enhancement of agricultural and financial resilience, ultimately increasing the value of cotton (fibre, yarn, and fabric).
Sourcery noted this is achieved by recognising and rewarding the commitment of growers and manufacturers to demonstrate their exemplary commercial, social, and environmental performance.
The programme also aims to overcome the existing commercial cost challenges by providing a solution that can generate and renew the financial investments required to drive meaningful and measurable impact at scale within the textile value chain.
This is achieved by putting data sovereignty, ownership and rights into the hands of growers, grower organisations and manufacturers.
As a result, Sourcery said that growers and manufacturers can create commercial value needed to invest in their farms, facilities and people by collecting and selling data to downstream Sourcery Partners or third parties who wish to make claims based on the data collected and verified through the Sourcery Connect App.
Crispin Argento, global managing director of Sourcery said he knows how incredibly valuable the data is that is collected by the growers and manufacturers for the industry. He added that it's why the company built a system with data ownership and sovereignty at the foundation for delivering more equitable and meaningful impact and to ensure growers and manufacturers are financially rewarded for their efforts.
The Sourcery Connect App, which is based on the Bluenumber data system, is said to serve as the digital nexus of the Impact and Assurance Programme. It allows growers, manufactures and brands to work together to deliver maximum impact.
Sourcery pointed out that its app brings a practical and scalable farm to gin chain-of-custody solution to overcome a major barrier for preferred fibres with segregated and identity preserved product claim frameworks.
The company also shared ambitions to build a digital trade and marketplace for cotton and, eventually, other commodities grown by farmers, to decouple the trade from traditional Wall Street commodity exchanges and derivatives markets like ICE, enabling more transparent, fair and efficient trade.
