Planet under Pressure

OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH
THE ORGANIC COTTON
ACCELERATOR
Sustainability is a key aspect that is considered in all steps of our business model and product
life cycles. This affects all stages of our global supply chain – design, raw material supply,
manufacturing, quality control, logistics, and point of sale through physical stores and
e-commerce.
By Javier Losada, Inditex
We are aware of the necessary global
contribution to a sustainable society. For
this reason, we collaborate with different
stakeholders and maintain alliances
with diverse international organizations
to succeed in implementing our social
and environmental sustainability strategies.
This allows us to maximize our
positive impact throughout the value
chain. Furthermore, we believe that the
future of sustainability must increasingly
move toward an open approach whereby
collaboration is the pillar on which the
industry evolves – an approach that
Inditex has been developing for years.
In this sense, Inditex is a founding partner
of the Organic Cotton Accelerator
(OCA; www.organiccottonaccelerator.
org.), which stands as “the only multistakeholder
organization fully dedicated
to organic cotton. As a global platform,
we’re committed to bringing integrity,
supply security, and measurable social
and environmental impact to organic
cotton.”
Cotton plays a key role in Inditex’s sustainability
strategy; it is the second-most
used raw material in the world, the first
with a natural base (26 million tons in
2018/2019; Preferred Fibers & Materials
Market Report 2019, Textile Exchange),
and it is widely used in our products
at Inditex.
Organic cotton is highlighted as one of
the best sustainable alternatives to conventional
cotton; however, it represents
only 0.7 percent of all cotton production
in the world (Organic Cotton Market Report
2019, Textile Exchange). There is still
so much to be done to encourage and
enable organic cotton farming to help
meet the demand for this fiber.
OCA’s Farmer Engagement and Development
(FED) program allows for sourcing
and capacity-building at the farm level.
Brands, retailers, and implementing
partners (IP) work together to change
the organic cotton market and deliver
prosperity, integrity, and best practices
at the farm level.
The FED program is currently focused on
India, where 47 percent of the world’s
organic cotton is produced. The program
links brands to nominated farm groups,
creating a secure market and premium
payments for the farmers and facilitating
third-party-validated impact data
while making future investments in
farmer training. IPs will be responsible
for providing non-GMO (genetically
modified organism) seeds to nominated
farm groups, training them in organic
practices and offering general management
and support throughout the growing
season.
At Inditex, we participate in several FED
projects in collaboration with more than
5,900 small farmers. Their training in
organic practices helps preserve local
biodiversity, soil enrichment, the use
of natural pesticides and fertilizers, and
prevents the use of GMO seeds.
The FED program puts organic farmers
first, helping to make organic farming
a viable choice for cotton growers in
India – where most of the project farmers
are small landholders – with a high
dependence on cotton farming for their
family incomes.
Organic practices usually bring lower
levels of crop productivity as well as
increased pest risks, so incomes are lower
than with conventional farming. While
remaining aware of the challenges, the
FED program’s primary goal is improving
business for organic cotton farmers
as well as promoting organic cotton in
India. The FED program advocates the
104
Global Goals Yearbook 2020