#Raw Materials

2024-11-01

U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol achieves record growth, reinforcing commitment to sustainable practices and traceability

The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, a leading program for responsibly grown cotton, today released its 2023/24 Annual Report, showcasing record grower participation and notable strides in environmental stewardship. The report highlights the program’s progress in driving transparency and continuous improvement across the cotton supply chain, even amidst a challenging economic climate for growers.?

“This year’s report demonstrates the unwavering commitment of U.S. cotton growers to continuous improvement, even in the face of significant challenges,” said Dr. Gary Adams, President of the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol. “The Trust Protocol is proud to support their efforts by providing the tools, resources, and market opportunities needed to build a more resilient and sustainable future for U.S. Cotton.”?

Key highlights from the 2023/24 Annual Report include:?

+ Record Grower Enrollment: Planted acreage enrolled in the Trust Protocol grew to 2.1 million acres, a 31% increase from the previous year, demonstrating a strong industry commitment to responsible production.?

+ Tangible Environmental Gains: Trust Protocol growers continued to outperform national averages, achieving a 14% improvement in yield and making significant reductions in water use (14%), energy use (27%), greenhouse gas emissions (21%), and soil loss (79%) compared to a 2015 baseline.?

+ Climate Smart Cotton Program Expansion: The program, designed to help growers adopt climate-smart practices, saw growth with 1,427 U.S. farming entities enrolled, including 282 from historically underserved communities.?

+ Traceability Platform Advancements: The Trust Protocol made noteworthy progress in scaling its Protocol Consumption Management Solution (PCMS), recording 1.2k shipments of cotton fiber (equivalent to 3.4 million bales of U.S. Cotton and 636,000 bales of Protocol Cotton).?

+ Enhanced Governance and Collaboration: The Trust Protocol expanded its Board of Directors to include greater international representation and joined the United Nations Fashion and Lifestyle Network, underscoring its commitment to global collaboration.?

“It’s not always easy to take risks when you’re a farmer, especially financial risks,” said Alyssa Cain, a Trust Protocol grower from Texas. “This program gives us the support to try new things, to build a better system for the long haul. That not only provides peace of mind but a farm with healthier soil, cleaner water, a system that works with nature, not against it.” ?

The 2023/24 Annual Report also details the Trust Protocol’s efforts to enhance its data collection and analysis processes, expand its Climate Smart Cotton Program, and strengthen its traceability platform to meet the evolving needs of brands and retailers.?

“This year’s report highlights both the progress our growers have made and the operational improvements within the Trust Protocol,”?said Daren Abney, Executive Director of the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol.?“We’ve streamlined systems to make participation easier for all and introduced a new consumption-based membership model launching in 2025 to support companies of all sizes in responsible sourcing.”?

The complete U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol 2023/24 Annual Report is available at

https://report.trustuscotton.org/.?

AMSilk and Ajinomoto Foods Europe expand partnership to enable industrial-scale production of silk proteins

AMSilk GmbH (“AMSilk”), a global leader leader in biotech produced silk materials, today announced a significant expansion of its partnership with Ajinomoto Foods Europe (AFE), marking a key step in scaling the industrial production of its silk proteins. Building on the collaboration first established in 2023, the two companies have now entered into a long-term manufacturing and supply agreement, enabling the transition from industrial validation to dedicated, large-scale production.

Cotton made in Africa partners receive top marks in independent verifications

Cotton made in Africa® (CmiA) and CmiA Organic are two internationally recognised standards that aim to promote sustainable development in the African cotton sector south of the Sahara. To ensure the standards’ credibility among brands, retailers, and consumers, independent verifiers evaluate compliance on the ground. The verification results for 2025, now published in the Aggregated Verification & Implementation Report, were very strong: The verifiers awarded consistently very good remarks regarding management, people, prosperity, and the environment.

Cotton ConneXions Insight to Impact brings supply chain leaders together around cotton innovation

Cotton Incorporated’s Cotton ConneXions Insight to Impact brought together more than 300 industry leaders from 140 companies across 10 countries, including more than 45 top global brands and sourcing organizations, underscoring strong global interest in cotton-rich product development, sourcing and supply chain collaboration.

Carrington Textiles publishes third Sustainability Report

Carrington Textiles has announced the publication of the third Sustainability Report from the RTS Textiles Group, highlighting another year of progress towards more responsible manufacturing across its global operations. The report outlines continued investment in technologies and initiatives designed to improve environmental performance and support long-term business resilience across the Group’s manufacturing facilities in the UK, Portugal and Pakistan.

Barmag Fuzhou Customer Day concludes successfully, boosting high-quality chemical fiber growth in Fujian & Guangdong

Barmag hosted its Customer Day themed “A New Era. Powered by Innovation.” in Fuzhou on June 28, welcoming nearly one hundred invited customers from Fujian and Guangdong provinces. Georg Stausberg, CEO of Barmag Group, attended along-side the sales and R&D expert China team to jointly present integrated solutions covering the entire man-made fiber value chain.

Recover™ and Ünteks Group partner to scale recycled cotton in knitwear

Recover(TM), a global producer of low‐impact, high‐quality recycled cotton fiber, announces a new partnership with Ünteks Group, a vertically integrated textile manufacturer based in Turkey. The collaboration focuses on the development of circular knit fabrics and garments, combining Recover’s recycled cotton fiber with Ünteks Group’s integrated capabilities across knitting, dyeing, printing, and garment production.

STEELTOP®: A new benchmark in flat tops for spinning preparation

Modern carding generations achieve higher production performance, placing significantly greater stress on flat tops. Higher cylinder speeds and increased fiber density, combined with tighter carding gaps, create more demanding operating conditions. At the same time, poorer raw material quality and the increased use of recycled materials further intensify these challenges. With STEELTOP®, Trützschler introduces a new full steel flat top series developed for these demanding modern carding processes.