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The Supply Chain
The supply chain for bringing cotton from farm to market does not easily allow retailers to specify where the cotton fiber comes from. Farmers typically sell their cotton to a broker, who in turn sells to a spinner. The weaver and spinner match the cotton fiber and yarn quality to meet the retailer’s specifications. The fabric then goes to a manufacturer to be cut and sewn. Retailers typically order final garments and, for most companies, their cotton fiber source is often unknown.
Cleaner Cotton™ Requires Communication
Because the timing of the cotton harvest has no relationship to the timing of a retail product launch, retailers must project their fiber needs far in advance to use Cleaner Cotton™. Cotton planted in April is harvested in October and spun the following spring. By the time it is processed into fabric and garments and shipped, a full year may have passed from harvest to the date a product arrives in the store. To guarantee a supply of Cleaner Cotton™ for production, a retailer must communicate with their supplier to deliver the message back through the supply chain to the growers in time for planting.
Strategies to Incorporate Cleaner Cotton™ in your Product Line
1. Educate Management: Present Cleaner Cotton™ and its benefits to managers and owners to gain support from the top of the company. We can give presentations and provide toolkits and information to help communicate the benefits of using Cleaner Cotton™ to any company.
2. Educate Peers: Educate company employees on the importance of Cleaner Cotton™ and how it supports sustainability programs. This ensures employees understand and support development of products using Cleaner Cotton™. We provide farm tours for company employees so they meet farmers and understand the environmental issues with cotton first hand.
3. Prepare in Advance: Work with production and sales people a year in advance of the target retail launch to project the number of units that will be produced with Cleaner Cotton™. SCP can help translate units and fabric weight into pounds of cotton fiber needed (link to cotton calculator in FFC). We can also facilitate stakeholder dialogues and meetings with handlers throughout the supply chain.
4. Request Cleaner Cotton™: Specify Cleaner Cotton™ to suppliers on spec sheets and purchase orders. Per a company’s specification, manufacturers, weavers, and spinners will request Cleaner Cotton™ further along the supply chain.
5. Connect with Cleaner Cotton™ Suppliers: The following suppliers can work with local manufacturers or ship to a manufacturer of your choice to produce Cleaner Cotton™ garments, fabric, yarn, or fiber:
6. Promote Your Products: Check out the artwork for the Cleaner Cotton™ trademark logo (link) and download it to make your own hangtags and promotional materials.
7. Educate Your Customers: Show SCP’s farmer profile video (link) in stores to help customers understand the benefits of Cleaner Cotton™. We can make personal appearances and presentations at stores, companies and colleges upon request.
8. Track Your Contribution: Document the number of Cleaner Cotton ™ units you sell and use our cotton calculator (link) to estimate the number of pounds of cotton you have converted from conventional to biological practices. Share the positive impact on air, water and soil resources achieved from buying locally grown Cleaner Cotton™ with your customers. |
