Better Cotton, the world’s largest cotton sustainability initiative, has announced that it will become a regenerative standard within the next year, further strengthening its ongoing commitment to protect and restore the environment and improve conditions for cotton farming communities around the world.
- Announced to much applause at the 2025 Better Cotton Conference in Izmir, the company is now updating the Principles & Criteria which underpin its standard, as well as working to strengthen the capacity of Better Cotton Programme Partners to implement the standard and developing an outcome-based reporting framework.
- While Better Cotton’s field level standard is already recognised to cover many of the core tenets of regenerative agriculture, this move will further ensure that farmers who meet its standard adopt the most commonly agreed regenerative practices.
- The move is expected to influence global cotton supply chains and the wider fashion industry’s sourcing strategies.
WHAT NEXT
Better Cotton will roll out the regenerative update in its next Standard revision, slated for launch in mid-2025. Training, support systems, and revised assurance processes will accompany the rollout, with a strong emphasis on measurable outcomes.
- Better Cotton will also provide training to approved certification bodies to ensure that they too are equipped to assess farmers against the revised Principles & Criteria.
- For the remainder of the year, Better Cotton will conduct pilots to advance this work and simultaneously revise its Principles & Criteria.
- Next year, Better Cotton will collaborate with its in-country partners to provide tailored support for farmers as they adopt more regenerative practices.
CONTEXT: This overhaul reflects a growing consensus that sustainability must go beyond compliance to regeneration. With growing climate threats and biodiversity loss, Better Cotton is positioning itself to align with global calls for systemic agricultural transformation. By mainstreaming regenerative agriculture in cotton production, the organisation seeks to shift the narrative—and the numbers—on sustainability in textiles.
ABOUT: Better Cotton supports more than two million farmers around the world, who are required to align with the organisation’s field-level standard to attain a licence. Its Principles & Criteria lay out the global definition of Better Cotton through six guiding principles.
WHAT THEY SAID:
It is increasingly clear that we need approaches that don’t simply mitigate or reduce harm, but that actively restore the environment. I am therefore pleased to share that over the next 12 months, Better Cotton will complete the remaining steps to become a regenerative standard. This is a natural step in line with our commitment to constantly improve our standard, which reflects the latest scientific insight as well as our enduring focus on the economic and social wellbeing of everyone involved in cotton farming.”
— Eva Benavidez Clayton
Senior Director, Demand & Engagement
Better Cotton
Thinking about the impact, particularly for the future of the programme, and how you built that into the regenerative programme, hands up, I think this is great progress, well done for doing it.
— Peter Bunce
Head of Cotton
Indigo Ag
Better Cotton showing an interest in owning regenerative agriculture is very positive.
— Muzaffer Turgut Kayhan
President
IPUD
