texfash.com: This sums up the state of affairs: "Only 9 of the 82 largest cotton-sourcing companies in the world are found to be doing the bare minimum of sourcing 99% or more of their cotton from certified sources. All other companies are failing to achieve even this bare minimum, with 30 companies scoring zero." Given that so much of work has been happening around cotton, are you surprised with the dismal results? Or, did you have a prima facie inkling that this would happen?
Tamar Hoek and Keith Tyrell: Not surprised. The ranking is based on how transparent brands are with regards to the type of certified cotton they use. A lot of the brands are not publishing this information; so, it is hard to evaluate their progress or to judge if they make any progress at all with buying certified cotton.
What we see happening is that a lot of brands hide behind the fact that they do not know where their cotton comes from. The upcoming due diligence legislation somehow stops them from taking action, and puts them in a waiting mode. The focus on circularity and recycling seems to temper the urgency to make cotton more sustainable. Recycling seems to be the golden bullet, forgetting about cotton farmers.
There is a lack of demand for farmers that invested in more sustainable cotton. Conventional cotton in conversion to organic cotton is, for example, not sold for a higher price. Cotton farmers with a sustainable production do not profit from longer term contracts. This can lead to farmers stepping out due to the lack of a business case for them. Which in the end makes the costs to comply with upcoming legislation higher.
Luckily there are positive examples but the majority of the companies are lagging behind.
Very broadly: the pace of progress has been pathetic, say over the 2016 or the 2020 cotton rankings. There are far too many companies that score zero and quite a few that did not respond. This shows a lot of callousness or the lack of will to make changes. Or both. Your comments, please.
Tamar Hoek and Keith Tyrell: It is disappointing that after all these years a lot of companies did not make any or little progress, and still do not see the urgency of how important it is to source sustainable cotton. There is still so much fear around transparency of where the cotton comes from, the volume and certifications used. It shows that the gap between frontrunners and laggards is getting bigger.