BRETT MATHEWS

LONDON – Better Cotton Initiative has released new leaderboards showing the world’s top users of Better Cotton. The world’s top five users by volume are H&M, Ikea, Adidas, Gap and Nike. Of these, Ikea and Adidas, along with Decathlon, are among brands that sourced at least 75 per cent of their cotton as Better Cotton in 2017 – the most up to date production figures available.

In 2017, 71 BCI retailer and brand Members of BCI sourced a record 736,000 metric tonnes of Better Cotton. The BCI is aiming towards a 2020 target of having Better Cotton account for 30 per cent of global cotton production. New figures also show that in the 2017-18 cotton season, BCI retailer and brand members contributed more than €6.4m enabling more than one million farmers across China, India, Mozambique, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Senegal to receive support and training.

The Leaderboards also show that for some retailers and brands, Better Cotton now accounts for a substantial percentage of their total cotton sourcing. Adidas sourced more than 90 per cent of its cotton as Better Cotton in 2017, while Decathlon, Hemtex AB, Ikea and Stadium AB sourced more than 75% of their cotton as Better Cotton.

Meanwhile, among the ‘fastest movers’ of 2017 were Adidas, Asos, Decathlon Gap Inc, G-Star Raw and KappAhl.

The following members are the top 15 Better Cotton users (in descending order) based on their total Better Cotton sourcing volumes in the 2017 calendar year were:

1. Hennes & Mauritz A

2. Ikea Supply AG

3. adidas AG

4. Gap Inc.

5. Nike, Inc.

6. Levi Strauss & Co.

7. C&A AG

8. DECATHLON SA

9. VF Corporation

10. Bestseller

11. PVH Corp.

12. Marks and Spencer PLC

13. Tesco Clothing

14. PUMA SE

15. Varner Retail AS