C&A and RARE carry out organic cotton business in China

by Xu Haipo Shen Da

The world-famous fashion retail brand C&A together with Rare Protection Association held a launch ceremony of farmer school featuring in organic-field agriculture in Zhu Qiao Village， Anlu City， Hubei Province， during which they issued learner cards for the local villagers， and gave away green T-shirt made of organic cotton for male， female and children on June 23rd. C&A and Rare carried out a three-year sustainable cotton promotion project from 2015， of which Zhu Qiao Village is one of pilots， to help farmers change traditional cultivation methods. The local government and villagers are welcome to promote the planting of organic cotton， which played a significant effect on improving the land planting environment， their personal income， etc. The event marks a new progress C&A has made on organic cotton business in China.

As the worlds largest buyer of organic cotton fashion， C&A has been concerned about the issue of organic cotton planting. In order to establish a greener production chain， C&A has become “the world-leading organic cotton fashion buyer” in less than ten years， since joining the textile trade association in 2015. Supported by the strategies of the textile trade association and other institutions， C&A is sparing no effort to put raw materials from India， Zambia， Ivory Coast， etc， into the mainstream market， making the green power worldwide. “C&A is moving towards right direction for long-term sustainable development.” Jeffrey Hogg， C&A global chief sustainability officer， said.

It is understood that about 80 countries around the world grow cotton， an important raw material for the textile industry， accounting for about 32% of the total amount of fiber. However， there are many problems， such as the large-scale consumption of pesticides and water resources in the traditional process of cotton growing industry， which will cause irreversible damage to the environment， considering the fact that about half of the clothing in the world use cotton as raw material. Although the planting area of traditional cotton covers 2.4% of total cultivated land in the world， the annual consumption of insecticides and pesticides makes up 24% and 11% of global production.

The green organic cotton is conducive to a sustainable economy and environment， in spite of its less than 1% share of annual crop yield all over the world， bringing huge economic and environmental gains for biodiversity and soil fertility by using natural and environmental technology， reducing N2O emission on one hand， the “grey water” pollution to reduce about five times， on the other hand， without the use of chemical fertilizers or toxic pesticides.

When beginning to promote sustainability fabric ten years ago， C&A synchronously launched organic cotton （bio cotton） products. In order to achieve its 2020 goal， which is all kinds of cotton products will absolutely be made of more sustainable cotton， the company is constantly increasing the proportion of more sustainable products in its product lines.