Many clothing brands and large retailers have set goals of obtaining 100% of their raw materials from suppliers who can document that they produce those fibers using environmentally sustainable practices.
That should give cotton producers a leg up because they are providing a naturally grown fiber rather than one created in a manufacturing facility with petroleum products. But growers have to be able to back up their claims.
“The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol is brand new,” said Nathan Reed, a cotton producer who farms in Lee and St. Francis Counties in Arkansas. “It was a program created by farmers for farmers in response to brands and retailers and the cotton industry needing proven sustainably-sourced cotton.