It ain't fashion, if it ain't sustainable
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TOP STORY
Mission Cotton / India Story

8 May 2026

 9 minutes

India Cannot Sell Its Cotton to the World Until It Admits Why the World Stopped Buying

The Mission for Cotton Productivity targets 140 districts across fourteen states, a coverage that reflects the crop's political and economic weight in India's agrarian landscape.

India's cotton sector has a productivity problem, a quality problem and a market-credibility problem. On Tuesday, the Union Cabinet approved a Rs 5,659.22 crore mission that proposes to address all three simultaneously, through seeds, ginning modernisation, traceability infrastructure and a national branding programme. What the mission does not address may be more revealing than what it does.

  • Subir Ghosh
 Analysis
Latest: Updates
Other Top Stories
Traditional Textiles / Padma Doree Analysis
Padma Doree raises a larger question about whether heritage can become contemporary without losing the producer accountability that gives skilled craft its economic meaning and long-term cultural value within markets.

When Heritage Becomes a Market Category, Proof Must Follow the Launch

  • Richa Bansal

7 May 2026
Second Chance / El Salvador Feature
New apparel imports into El Salvador fell by nearly a third between 2019 and 2023, as secondhand clothing filled the affordability gap left by rising prices and constrained household budgets.

El Salvador's Secondhand Clothing Market Is a Blueprint for Affordable Reuse at Scale

  • Special Correspondent

6 May 2026
 
ITMA 2027
Textiles Recycling Expo 2026
CIRCULARITY / RECYCLING / SECONDS / WASTE
When industry commitment meets global infrastructure, circular materials stop being aspirational and start becoming a practical sourcing reality for brands of every size.

Global Access to Circular Denim Widens as World Collective and Denim Deal Expand Sourcing Partnership

Access to post-consumer recycled cotton in denim has expanded through a deepened collaboration between two industry players. The partnership is broadening supplier onboarding, building a year-round sourcing channel, and connecting brands with materials verified against Denim Deal's technical and durability standards, in support of a goal to produce one billion PCR cotton jeans by 2030.

Staff Writer
Global clothing debates often ignore the basic commercial truth that garments move because people actively choose to buy them.

Evidence Challenges Claims of Waste Hidden in Clothing Trade Flows

  • Special Correspondent
 Interview

16 April 2026
 
ITMA 2027
FLASHPOINT: CLIMATE
Material Innovation / Bezos Fund
The funding signals a research-led push to make alternative materials commercially usable, not merely experimental answers to fashion’s environmental footprint or laboratory curiosity.

The Race to Reinvent What We Wear Gets $34 Million from Bezos Earth Fund

  • Staff Writer
 Update

27 April 2026

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
Ethiopia's garment sector is entering a new phase, where climate resilience, cleaner production and worker advancement are becoming central to industrial strategy.

Climate Resilience and Workplace Safety Drive New ILO-Japan Programme for Ethiopian Garment Factories

  • Staff Writer
 Update

1 April 2026

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.

 
Saudi Fashion Tex 2026
COLUMNS
 
EXCLUSIVES
 
Intex Bangladesh
Intex Sri Lanka
Inmac Sri Lanka
FOCUS: COTTON
When waste becomes fuel, the boundary between problem and solution dissolves. Cotton farming may soon power itself entirely from within.

Cotton's Agricultural Waste Generates More Energy Than the Crop Requires to Grow, Research Shows

Cottonseed waste has been shown to yield biodiesel at volumes sufficient to power cotton cultivation itself, through a closed-loop system that recycles all byproducts. Biochar derived from defatted cottonseed serves as a high-performance catalyst, achieving an 83.5% biodiesel yield. Syngas produced during the process is converted into methanol and reused, creating a self-sustaining, fossil-fuel-free energy cycle.

Staff Writer
 
SPOTLIGHT ARTICLES: MOST READ
 
 
SPOTLIGHT EDITIONS: SELECT 4
Cotton for Good 2024 7 Oct 2024
One Crop, One Fibre, Many Stories
 

Highlights: Sea Change

"Quote Unquote"

Mattias Wallander
Mattias Wallander
Chief Executive Officer
USAgain
The real hurdle isn't the map, but the fragmented municipal governance: complex, varying permit costs and restrictive zoning are barriers to expansion. If local governments can align on model ordinances and move away from restrictive industrial-only zoning, the 13% yearover- year growth seen in France may be possible in California.
MORE: California’s Textile EPR Ambition Hinges on Infrastructure and Local Regulation

"Quote Unquote"

Lalit Kumar Gupta
Lalit Kumar Gupta
Chairman-Cum-Managing Director
Cotton Corporation of India
With a pan-India presence over 570 procurement centres across 11 major cotton-growing states, CCI directly procures raw cotton from farmers at APMC yards while closely monitoring market conditions throughout the season. Digital initiatives, such as the Kapas Kisan mobile app, enable Aadhaar- and land record-based self-registration and slot booking, ensuring efficient and transparent procurement. All cotton and cotton seed stocks are sold via an independent e-auction portal, making the sales system market-driven and transparent.
MORE: ‘MSP Isn’t Distorting Prices’: CCI Head on Imports, Yields, and the Road to Cotton Stability
 
FOCUS: LEATHER
The fair's expansion into newly constructed exhibition halls at Chennai Trade Centre failed to address fundamental organisational issues, with similar product categories scattered across disparate locations forcing extended navigation.

IILF 2026 Exposes Gap Between Boardroom Sustainability and Tannery Floor Reality

Chennai's IILF 2026 exposed contradictions shaping India's leather industry: innovative chemical systems alongside organisational failures, Trump tariffs suppressing demand yet prices holding firm, and sustainability frameworks that never reach tannery workers. The 'Leather Carnival' demonstrated both the sector's professionalisation and its struggle to reconcile traditional identity with market realities.

Vasan Suri
Lineapelle 2025 demonstrated that the industry is ready to communicate in a different way. The collaboration between UNIC, Lineapelle, La Conceria, Is It Leather?, and voices like Volkan’s marks the beginning of a more open, consumer-connected era. But collaboration must extend to influencers, educators, and storytellers, people who can speak the language of the next generation of consumers.

The Power of Storytelling, Community and Leather’s Next Chapter

  • Blake Garavaglia
 Commentary

14 October 2025
 
 
ATTENTION: DENIM
 
COMPANY NEWS / PRESS RELEASES
 
 
Young India Fashion Survey 2025