Research Triangle Park, N.C. – BASF is best known as a global chemical company, but it is also a seed provider. And that is how it got into sustainable cotton arena.
The company’s e3 Sustainable Cotton program in 2020 expanded into every cotton-growing state in the U.S. with 660 growers enrolled. When cotton farmers buy BASF Stoneville or FiberMax cotton seed breeds, they are given an opportunity to sign up for the program and commit to tracking eight sustainability measures on 100% of their eligible cotton acres: irrigation and water use, pesticide management and usage, soil conservation and fertility management, energy use and conservation, work health and safety, identity preservation and soil carbon.
The payoff? Financial reward. BASF pays cotton growers in the program $2.50 per bale for taking part.
This year, BASF has opened the funding program to brands, retailers, mills and other value fiber value chain companies sourcing e3 cotton. They can contribute a monetary amount to the funds that will be distributed to e3 Sustainable Cotton farmers in addition to the $2.50 per bale premium provided by BASF.
The first two companies to sign up for the opportunity, which opened in February, were Vidalia Mills and General Standard.
Currently, most of the cotton in the program is being used for apparel and denim, but the program has been expanding steadily since 2019 – which is when BASF started seeing a jump in demand for sustainable, traceable cotton, Crumpler said.
“When we talk to brands that want to be more sustainable, they customer want to know who are you sourcing your fabric from, who are you sourcing your yarns from and who are you sourcing your cotton from,” she added.
In September 2019, BASF hosted its annual farm-to-fashion event, which usually attracted a dozen or brand representatives. This time, there 80 people signed on.
“Many of the brand decision makers had never walked a cotton field and had never met a farmer,” Crumpler recalled.
Some of the more forward-looking brands using e3 cotton are sharing the sustainability story with end consumers. Rag & Bone is designing an e3 denim line that will focus its marketing around the Louisiana farms that sell their e3 cotton to Vidalia Mills. Wrangler is already out of the gate with the Wrangler Rooted denim collection, which is made with 100% sustainable cotton from Alabama and features the farmer’s signature on the inner pocket.
Ultimately, BASF hopes to see more brands sharing the farm-to-closet message with consumers.
“We are input providers,” Crumpler said. “This is an investment back into the farmer.
Source: hometextilestoday.com