CottonConnect is on a mission to bring positive change to smallholder farmers, particularly women by improving their livelihoods, and helping brands and retailers’ source sustainable cotton. We help global brands source more sustainably by creating robust, resilient, and successful raw material supply chains. Our efforts improve the sustainability of the world’s textile supply chains, enabling textile producers and raw material farmers to work more responsibly and improve their livelihoods.
CottonConnect adopts a holistic “Product, People, Planet” approach by creating sustainable and traceable goods, supporting farmers to sustain and improve livelihoods, and conserving and restoring the natural environment. At the heart of our work is fostering strategic partnerships with brands, NGOs, and industry experts to find business solutions that address some of the most critical issues in the cotton supply chain and help create systemic and widespread change.
Through our innovative TraceBale platform, we help simplify and provide transparency for cotton supply chains providing visibility of the whole cotton journey, from farm group to finished product. We offer both digital traceability, where users can trace textiles through QR codes, and physical traceability with DNA marking technology.
Last year, our teams trained more than 523,000 farmers in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, and Egypt, helping them improve yields, reduce input costs, and boost profits. Since our inception in 2009, we have worked with over 800,000 farmers, impacting the livelihoods of 4 million farming families.
Our programmes include REEL Cotton Programme, REEL Regenerative, REEL Linen, Responsible Business for Gins, Organic, and Women in Cotton. We have set a series of goals that underpin our work and our vision for reimagining the future for supply chains. These include:
• Increase the net income and resilience for one million cotton farmers and workers by 2030
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions for REEL Cotton by 50% by 2030
• Training more than 90% of REEL Cotton farmers to adopt regenerative practices by 2030
• 100% of REEL cotton to be traceable by 2025
Whether supporting brands and retailers, garment producers or cotton and raw material farmers, we are committed to delivering outcomes that benefit all. We build trust and transparency through traceability and bring together stakeholders, internal buying teams and suppliers for meetings, as well as organize and facilitate workshops that improve knowledge and awareness of sustainable cotton.
We were honoured twice as 'SME of the Year'—at the Reuters Sustainable Business Awards in 2024 and at the Edie Awards, the UK's largest sustainability event, in 2023. Additionally, in 2023, our partnership with Primark and SEWA won the 'Partnership of the Year' award at Reuters and the 'Partnership and Collaboration of the Year' award at the Edie.
