TOP STORY

Inclusion or Concentration: Latin American Cotton Faces a Reckoning

Across Latin America, cotton sectors are navigating a modernisation wave that is producing sharply unequal results. The technologies exist; so does the research capacity. What remains fragile is the institutional scaffolding that translates both into farm-level change. Dr Marcelo Paytas, Director at INTA – Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, has spent years working at that fault line, and his diagnosis is precise.

Other Top Stories
 
CIRCULARITY / RECYCLING / SECONDS / WASTE

Efficiency-Only Policies Are Failing to Reduce Fashion's Environmental Footprint as Production Volumes Keep Rising

Overproduction and overconsumption are driving the global fashion system beyond ecological limits, with EU efficiency measures failing to deliver absolute environmental reductions. New research has identified four structural lock-ins sustaining excess production and consumption, and proposes a transformative sufficiency-based policy mix designed to address their root causes across the sector.

 
FLASHPOINT: CLIMATE
Material Innovation / Bezos Fund

Breakthrough textile materials have received $34 million in new Bezos Earth Fund grants, backing research into bacterial fibres, spider-silk-inspired biodegradable materials, coloured cotton and cotton seedbank restoration. The funding targets materials that can match rayon, silk and cotton while improving cost, performance and environmental outcomes across fashion and textile supply chains.

Climate Action / Ethiopia Project

Climate resilience, productivity and workplace safety are being advanced across Ethiopia's leather, textile and garment sector through a new ILO-Japan joint initiative. The one-year programme targets 40 factories across five cities, integrating Japanese expertise, digitalised safety tools and a women's leadership development programme to drive sustainable and inclusive industrial growth.

 
 
 
FOCUS: COTTON

The Fight Over Cotton's Future Is a Fight Over Accounting

A new lifecycle assessment released today by Cotton Incorporated reframes how the fibre's environmental performance is measured and contested. The study produces a net-negative carbon footprint at the farm gate while leaving open significant questions about the methodological assumptions and farming system consistency that underpin that finding, with implications that extend well beyond the fibre itself.

 
 
 
SPOTLIGHT EDITIONS: SELECT 4
 

"Quote Unquote"

Marcelo Paytas
Marcelo Paytas
Director
INTA – Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria
The greater challenge lies in the connection between knowledge generation and practical adoption. Extension systems often operate with limited resources, while many producers face difficult economic conditions and high investment risks. Under climate uncertainty, adopting new technologies is not simply a technical decision—it is an economic one.

"Quote Unquote"

Eileen Mockus
Eileen Mockus
Chief Operating Officer
Accelerating Circularity
A big part is data and transparency: recyclers often lack reliable, standardized material and attachment-data about trims (what they’re made of, coatings, adhesives), so the safest operational choice is removal. The other part is inertia and risk-aversion: sorting and recycling lines are tuned for throughput and predictable inputs; including trims creates contamination risk, downgrades output or causes downtime to handle foreign materials.
 
 
FOCUS: LEATHER

AI Adoption in Footwear Has Tripled Since 2020, Reshaping Design, Production and Retail at Every Level

Artificial intelligence has moved from experimentation to operational use across footwear and leather goods, with adoption among OECD companies tripling between 2020 and 2025. The tenth Innovation Village Retail at Expo Riva Schuh and Gardabags in June 2026 brings together nearly 90 start-ups spanning 3D modelling, fit technology, mass customisation, digital product passports and returns reduction.