Become a Partner

Your added value – our services

Are you new to sustainable purchasing, or do you want to expand your work in managing sustainability? At Cotton made in Africa®, we have 15 years of specialist experience in sustainable cotton production and the global processing of this valuable resource for the textile industry. Cotton made in Africa®-verified cotton is in demand among international retailers and brands and is used to manufacture yarn, fabric, clothing, and hometextiles in all the major production markets in the world – currently encompassing 25 countries, nine of which are in Africa. Cotton made in Africa®’s Demand Alliance includes cotton traders, spinning mills, fabric and textile producers, and international retailers in addition to well-known fashion brands.

Reasons to Become a Partner of Cotton made in Africa®:

  • You have a reliable and experienced partner in us

    Already, over 40 international textile companies and fashion brands have joined the Cotton made in Africa® Demand Alliance. They were won over by the reliability of the sustainability standard, its simple and pragmatic integration into the textile value chain, and the advantage of having greater transparency and authenticity for their products. In 2019, Stiftung Warentest, an investigative German consumer organisation, confirmed Cotton made in Africa®’s reputation for sustainability and long-term support for smallholder farmers.

  • You will reap the benefits of Cotton made in Africa®’s successful approach to running sustainable business operations

    Since its launch to market in 2007, Cotton made in Africa®’s turnover has grown from 400,000 to around 125 million textile items in 2019. This is a success both for you and for Africa: On the one hand, you benefit from greater transparency, a stronger reputation as a sustainable company, and excellent marketing opportunities. On the other hand, the licensing revenues allow us to finance and continually expand training programmes for the cotton farmers, other projects in the areas of cultivation, and the certification of additional partners.

    • By working with us, you can gain greater transparency in your supply chain and protect yourself against risks. With CmiA-verified cotton, you can be sure that compliance with sustainability criteria is regularly verified by independent organisations. You also get to decide on the degree of transparency and traceability you wish to create in your value chain.
    • You will benefit from our value chain expertise. Our supply chain team can help you integrate sustainable cotton into your global value chain without contributing to extra costs or delays. The team also offers trainings, access to our supply chain app , and regular workshops in all important production markets.

    • You can enjoy global, unrestricted availability. Not only do you have access to cotton verified by Cotton made in Africa at any time and in all relevant global textile production markets, it can be used throughout your product line for everything from home textiles to clothing.
    • CmiA is an investment in an effective programme to help people help themselves. The living conditions of a growing number of smallholder farmers and their families have been successfully improved through training sessions and cooperation projects. As a partner, you play a significant role in supporting our work on the ground and can share this good news with others at the point of sale, in your corporate communication, and on your products themselves.
    • You will join a globally renowned stakeholder network. Numerous governmental and non-governmental organisations – including Welthungerhilfe, WWF, CARE International, and NABU – support us and have been working with us for years.
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

The HIP (Hard Identity Preserved) Chain of Custody (CoC) model  ensures full, uninterrupted transparency and traceability of Cotton made in Africa® (CmiA) verified cotton—from the CmiA cotton producer all the way to the CmiA- labelled finished product.

Key features include:

  • Segregation and separation of CmiA-verified cotton and CmiA-claimed materials at every stage—from ginning and spinning to fabric production, dyeing, trading, and garment manufacturing—ensured through clear labelling and dedicated storage and processing lines.
  • Complete documentation at each production stage, ensuring traceability and accountability from CmiA raw material to the CmiA-labelled finished product.
  • A digital tracking system that records each transaction and movement within the supply chain, delivering end-to-end visibility across all supply chain partners.

Benefits for partners:
With HIP, brands and retailers can offer fully traceable CmiA cotton, meeting rising expectations around due diligence, supply chain transparency, and consumer trust.

AbTF Transparency Standard

To strengthen the integrity of HIP, the AbTF Transparency Standard, developed by the Aid by Trade Foundation, introduces an additional layer of third-party verification and supply chain assurance. It includes:

  1. Risk-based desktop audits by independent third parties that assess data flows and documentation across the CmiA HIP supply chain to verify reliable implementation.
  2. Digital Transaction Documents (DTDs)—auditor-verified, electronic records that trace each retailer’s purchase order back to the cotton’s origin. Any missing step invalidates the traceability, ensuring full supply chain integrity.
  3. Self-assessment questionnaires completed by all CmiA supply chain actors to support internal compliance with segregation, separation, and documentation requirements.
  4. Regular on-site audits at spinning mills to confirm the correct implementation of HIP and adherence to transparency requirements.

This standard ensures that HIP-labelled products are not only traceable—but also verified, audited, and transparent from cotton field to retail shop.

 

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.

  • For Retailers and Brands
  • For Textile Producers
  • For Fabric Producers/Traders
  • For Spinning Mills/Yarn Trader
  • For Cotton Traders
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

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