First steps to become a partner

Transparency and Traceability

Cotton made in Africa has earned a reputation for providing a pragmatic and customer-oriented service to companies, simultaneously developing two reliable systems for the integration and traceability of CmiA cotton in the supply chain.

You have two systems to choose from:

Both systems guarantee uninterrupted traceability from the field to the ginnery to the spinning mill. The systems then diverge after the spinning mill, offering differing levels of transparency.

The Hard Identity Preserved System

This option provides an additional online Tracking System to ensure complete transparency throughout the entire value chain, allowing the cotton to be traced back the entire way from the field to the finished product. It may not be mixed with other cotton at any stage of production. This system also sets specific requirements:

– CmiA-verified cotton may only be purchased by authorised cotton traders.
– Exclusively CmiA-verified cotton must be used throughout the entire textile production process, from the cotton to the yarn to the fabric, and must always be stored and processed separately.
– In order to ensure that all requirements are met, all actors throughout the textile value chain must submit relevant information to the central HIP Tracking System. This allows to make precise statements in communication about the origins of the raw materials, down to where they were grown.
– Only final products from a successfully implemented and properly documented HIP system may bear the “Cotton made in Africa Inside” logo.

The Mass Balance System

At the spinning mill level, CmiA cotton may be blended with cotton of other origins – a quantity check is carried out to ensure that there is a balance between purchased CmiA cotton and yarns sold as CmiA.

CmiA’s SCOT Tracking System ensures that the amount of purchased CmiA cotton corresponds to the amount of CmiA-labelled yarn.

Spinning mills regularly enter their sales of CmiA yarn into the SCOT system and confirm their purchases of CmiA cotton. This ensures that the mass balance is preserved. All other companies in the textile supply chain also regularly enter their CmiA purchases (of yarn or fabrics) and their CmiA sales (of yarn or fabrics) into the system.

It requires compliance with the following principles:

– CmiA-verified cotton may be purchased only by registered cotton traders.
– CmiA-labelled yarn may contain:
a) only CmiA-verified cotton,
b) a mixture of CmiA-verified and other cotton or
c) no CmiA-verified cotton at all.
The key is to ensure that sufficient CmiA-verified cotton was purchased and that no more CmiA-labelled yarn was sold than CmiA-verified cotton was bought.
– The spinning mills submit a monthly report on purchases and sales. This ensures that the mass balance is preserved.
– CmiA-labelled products must consist of at least five percent cotton.
– The finished products may bear the “Supporting the Cotton made in Africa Initiative” logo.

First Steps to Partnership

Have you decided to become a partner of Cotton made in Africa? This is what you need to know about the next steps your company should take.

 title=
“CmiA has a positive impact for smallholder farmers in Africa, nature protection and us as we can source CmiA-certified cotton globally and thereby increase the percentage of sustainably sourced cotton for our company.”
Bestseller Logo title= Dorte Rye Olsen Sustainability Manager,Bestseller

You have questions?

 
Cotton made in Africa smooths the way for using sustainable raw materials in the mass market by providing you with advice and support for integration into existing procurement structures. Feel free to contact us by email

Your contact persons
supplychain@abt-foundation.org

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