Smallholder cotton growers in five countries — Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Malawi and Zambia — will benefit from fashion retailer C&A’s recently announced plans to purchase 1,000 tonnes of African cotton. Better yet, the company will increase its annual purchase to 1,500 tonnes in 2013 and 2,000 tonnes in 2014.
C&A is part of the Demand Alliance, a group of international textile companies that use Cotton Made in Africa (CmiA) to benefit smallholder farmers. Demand Alliance members include companies such as Anson’s, Anvil, Celio, Otto Group, Peek & Cloppenburg, PUMA, QVC, Tchibo, Tom Tailor, s.Oliver and 1888 Mills.
“We’re happy to respond to our customers’ demand for fashion produced in a socially and environmentally sustainable way,” Phil Chamberlain, head of sustainable business development at C&A, said in an article published on www.just-style.com. “Cotton made in Africa offers us a great opportunity to use a high-value raw material with added social value in our textiles.”
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