By Fi Forrest 

In collaboration with international regenerative agriculture initiative Regenagri, Cone’s goal is to increase access to sustainably sourced cotton grown using regenerative agricultural practices while also working on various programmes to help its customers and brands achieve key sustainability actions.

Regenerative practices include no-till agriculture, use of cover crops, diverse crop rotations, in addition to reduced use of fertiliser or pesticides.

Regenagri’s certification is backed by the Control Union, which helps develop services around the sustainability of supply chains that feed into many markets including textiles.

“We are increasingly dedicated to providing fabrics created with integrity, offering assurance and transparency to our customers, and participating in the newest ways to ensure sustainable cotton,” says Cone Denim president Steve Maggard. “Cotton is the foundation of denim. Cone is committed to leading
the industry in offering the highest standards in sustainable and ethically grown cotton from our new certification with Regenagri and longstanding participation with BCI and Cotton Leads to our partnership with Oritain.

“Not only are we dedicated to achieving Cone’s sustainability goals, but we’re also passionate about working with brands to help our customers meet and exceed their sustainability goals. The industry must collaborate on integrating these regenerative agriculture practices into supply chains in order to continuously push towards a more sustainable future.”

Together with its parent company Elevate Textiles, Cone Denim has pledged to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and committed to source 80% verifiably sustainable cotton by 2025.

The brand offers a variety of responsibly sourced cotton including recycled cotton, organic cotton, and Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) cotton, and continuously invests in supporting new initiatives. Cone is a member of the US Cotton Trust Protocol, which brings verifiable goals and measurement to sustainable cotton production and drives continuous improvement in certain sustainability metrics.

In April, Cone unveiled a new US-grown hemp denim collection in collaboration with hemp processing innovator BastCore.