As demand outstrips supply, the road to a more sustainable cotton industry is not without bumps. Nevertheless, BESTSELLER is now forwarding its organic cotton efforts, most recently by adding in-conversion cotton to its portfolio and today with the announcement of being the first brand group to use CmiA-Organic.

“With the CmiA-Organic standard we see a truly holistically sustainable raw material with an African footprint. It is really great to see that our partnership with BESTSELLER has evolved in this direction, making it the first brand to use CmiA-Organic,” says Tina Stridde, Managing Director of Aid by Trade Foundation, the non-profit organisation behind CmiA.

“We now look forward to extending the CmiA-Organic programme with BESTSELLER and continue our encouraging collaboration.”

Far beyond the regular

CmiA-Organic has some quite distinctive attributes, as the standard goes beyond regular ecological sustainability focusing on nature protection, BESTSELLER’s Sustainable Materials & Innovation Manager Camilla Skjønning Jørgensen explains:

“It also includes social and economic criteria with improvement of livelihoods for farmers and their families at its core. They only work in Sub Saharan-Africa and with smallholder farmers, who are very vulnerable in terms of climate change and food supply, to name a few.”

In short, CmiA-Organic is good for the planet as well as for the farmers. It is even fully traceable; from fields to final products.

“There are so many positive aspects of CmiA-Organic. Adding organic cotton practices on top of CmiA’s regular work makes this standard highly demanded, which is all the more reason that we are particularly pleased and proud to be the very first brand to offer CmiA-Organic products,” says Camilla.

Organic sourcing is challenging

CmiA and CmiA-Organic follow the principles of ‘direct-to-farm’ – an approach which is gaining speed in BESTSELLER. Together with SELECTED, NAME IT is the first brand to use CmiA-Organic in its Autumn21 collection, and they know the importance – and difficulties – of sourcing organic cotton, according to NAME IT’s Sourcing & Sustainability Manager, Joan Søndergaard Nielsen:

“NAME IT has an ambition of using 100 percent organic cotton in our collections by 2025, but we find it extremely challenging to secure the quantities and the right premium through regular sourcing,” she says.

“Hopefully, engaging in more direct-to-farm organic projects such as CmiA-Organic can help encourage farmers to convert to organic cotton farming. Thereby supply will increase and get us one step closer to reaching our sustainability targets.”

The partnership with CmiA-Organic is facilitated by BESTSELLER’s Fashion FWD Lab.

 

^{Photos: Martin J. Kielmann for CmiA}