Fashion e-commerce company Myntra said on Tuesday that it has partnered with Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), is a London-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainable standards in cotton farming and practices across 21 countries. With this tie-up, Myntra’s in-house brands will be sourcing cotton for apparel through BCI.
Down the road, In the next five-ten years, Myntra will be fulfilling its cotton requirement from BCI, a statement said.
BCI runs one of the world’s largest cotton sustainability programmes, intending to make cotton growing more sustainable. BCI and its partners taught approximately 2.7 million cotton farmers how to grow cotton proficiently, using water efficiently, keeping soil health in mind and reducing the use of the most harmful chemicals.
“Through this partnership, Myntra will focus on sourcing 10 percent of its cotton requirements from BCI, to begin with, and in the next five to seven years, aim to increase it to about 50 per cent. To make it easier to adopt, scale and measure, a mass balance model would be followed where Better Cotton can be mixed with conventional cotton through the supply chain,” the statement said.
The cotton produced by Better Cotton cannot be physically traced to end products. But, through this initiative, BCI farmers will profit from the demand for Better Cotton in comparable proportions to its sources, according to the statement.
World’s 23 percent of the cotton production is produced by BCI, approximately 70 implementing partners quickly adjusted to the evolving circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.
“As the leading fashion and lifestyle retailer in the country, we aim to incorporate more environmentally responsible practices throughout our supply chain. Partnering with the BCI means we will continue the journey to source more sustainable cotton across our entire business, working towards a brighter future for the cotton industry and those whose lives depend on it,” Myntra VP Product Development and Sourcing Neetu Jotwani said, reported PTI.