Australia

Australia's premier research institution Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) has embarked on an ambitious $10 million five-year collaborative approach to disease research to mitigate the economic impacts of disease.

The Australian cotton industry has made remarkable progress in the last 25 years, with its water consumption dropping by half.  The last year also witnessed a record harvest of 5.6 million bales valued at a record $4.6 billion.

The just released Australian Cotton Sustainability Update 2022 has revealed some critical findings and suggests the way ahead on how it can cotton on to better sustainable ways and profitability with people and planet at centrestage.

In a bid to help transition the country to a circular economy by 2030 and Net Zero by 2050, Australia is funding a consortium to develop Seamless, a National Clothing Product Stewardship Scheme that would act across the value chain, from clothing design to use, reuse, collection, and recycling.

Changing consumer behaviour, as well as new technology is reshaping the Australian fashion sector. A spending slowdown will test the industry’s resilience, says a just released report that charts the progress made across sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and accessibility.

Exploring ways to transition from physical to digital sampling, a pilot by Australian Fashion Council found that brands reported a faster time to market and the ability to test multiple sizes of a garment without producing a single physical sample.

Birla Cellulose has completed the first pilot scale spin of an eco-friendly next generation lyocell fibre containing 20% microbial cellulose Nullarbor-20.

Qantas Loyalty has unveiled a new online shopping experience which will allow Frequent Flyers to earn and use their Qantas Points on 900 premium and household brands and more than 20,000 products. Fashion brands and designers would be a major draw.

In a bid to reposition itself in a changing global environment, the Australian cotton industry is rallying together to chart out a strategic roadmap that would align the industry to the increasingly aware customer needs.

Australia's book-end approach across its cotton supply chain that combines actions by producers and retailers is perhaps the best way to rid the global cotton supply chain of exploitation.