Currently, many fashion brands are reviewing their sustainability goals. The apparel group Gap now commits to 100% sustainable cotton sourcing within the next six years. Gap Inc. includes the brands Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta, INTERMIX, Hill City as well as Janie and Jack. 95% of all brands’ products and materials are made up of cotton. Following Gap’s statement, the main motivation for sustainable sourcing is limiting the contribution of cotton production to climate change. The recently released Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) annual report indicates that the fashion supply chain as a whole is catching on such sustainability measures and the global cotton production is increasing.

Gap states that the challenge of fiber traceability kept them from meeting their sustainable goals. This challenge is common in the fashion industry. Fabric sourcing is normally done separately from supplier selection leading to the fact that many brands do not know where their cotton comes from.

With the sustainabill platform companies can trace their products’ materials back to their origin – from the final shirt to the cotton field. Only when organizations have information on where the raw materials come from and under which conditions the raw materials are sourced, sustainable goals can be
reached.