Cotton Council International: Partners Can Enhance Demand Across the Globe

For 60 years, Cotton Council International (CCI), NCC’s export promotions arm, has continued to elevate U.S. cotton in the global marketplace. With 15 offices covering more than 50 countries, CCI is realizing its current success by adhering to a three-point plan that includes supply chain Development, brand/retailer promotion and support and developing industry partnerships.

In 2013, CCI’s Sourcing and Supply Chain Marketing programs were expanded in Asia and well received by U.S. cotton customers there. The CCI-hosted COTTON USA Chinese Yarn Buyers Tour in Jakarta, Indonesia, promoted U.S. cotton-rich yarns produced by mills in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. That initiative led to numerous requests for the mills’ U.S. cotton yarn samples.

Advertisement

U.S. cotton also was promoted at major global trade shows such as Texworld/PV, Heimtex and Colombiatex. CCI’s sponsorship of Expotextil, the second-largest textile show in Peru, gave COTTON USA a direct line to communicate COTTON USA’s benefits to 22,000 attendees from Peru’s textile and apparel sector.

The U.S. mill tour to China and Hong Kong saw U.S. cotton yarn exports to China increase by 192%. The Special Trade Mission from China enabled major U.S. cotton customers – mills representing 990,000 bales of U.S. cotton – to see U.S. cotton industry operations.

CCI’s European presence was evident in the Hattric Dancing Jeans promotion in Germany, which resulted in 81,600 COTTON USA Mark-labeled men’s cotton trousers sold. The London Fashion Week public relations campaign in the United Kingdom generated a total consumer impact of 325 million people. In northeast Asia, the Cotton Days promotion created 189.2 million consumer impressions in Thailand, Japan, Taiwan and Korea. The “I Love Cotton” promotion in Korea saw a year-on-year sales increase of 12% for Korean licensees. The FanFan Concert in Taiwan generated 16.6 million consumer impressions.

Top Articles
Make a Pre-Planting Checklist

In Southeast Asia, the COTTON USA Promotion which featured “Cotton,” a 100% cotton doll, compiled an earned advertising value of 48.5 times CCI’s investment.

The “Let’s Design” campaign in south Asia produced estimated visibility among 859 million people in India while the COTTONSCAPE promotion reached 173.3 million people across India.

Throughout the U.S.-Western Hemisphere textile and apparel supply chain, the COTTON USA Sourcing program continued to introduce U.S. mills to customers and to develop/strengthen relationships between U.S. mills, retailers, brands, uniform companies, and global apparel manufacturers. The COTTON USA Sourcing Fair in Panama, for example, provided sourcing opportunities for the 13 participating U.S. textile mills and facilitated 700 meetings between buyers and sellers.

Moving Forward Together

Looking ahead, CCI will enter its 60th year by taking advantage of ongoing partnerships with Cotton Incorporated to continue providing global consumer market research results to brands and retailers. The two organizations also will continue to partner in furthering the Cotton LEADS program that was initiated to demonstrate to brands and retailers the commitment of U.S. cotton producers to continued improvements in production. CCI also is anticipating another successful Sourcing Summit after the 2012 event brought together 345 business leaders from the U.S. cotton fiber exporting community as well as senior textile mill executives from 22 countries. The 8th biennial Summit will be held in late 2014 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

0