The 2025 Sustainable Cotton Challenge is accelerating the adoption of lower-impact agricultural practices.
Our 2025 Sustainable Cotton Challenge is a catalyst to shift the market toward the use of cotton grown using agricultural practices with improved environmental and social sustainability outcomes. We’re challenging brands to commit to sourcing 100% of their cotton from more sustainable programs and initiatives by 2025.
DEVELOPMENT
We’re leading brands in a collective commitment.
In May 2017, 13 of the most widely known fashion and textile companies signed a collective commitment in the presence of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, now His Majesty King Charles III. The pledge was drafted by a small steering group including the International Sustainability Unit, Marks & Spencer, The Soil Association, Textile Exchange, Levi Strauss & Co., and Kering. In March 2018, Textile Exchange took over the management of this initiative and we created the 2025 Sustainable Cotton Challenge.
SCOPE
The challenge recognizes 16 cotton programs and initiatives around the world.
These include: Responsible Brazilian Cotton (ABR), e3® Sustainable Cotton, Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Cotton made in Africa (CmiA), Cotton made in Africa Organic (CmiA-organic), Fairtrade, Fairtrade Organic, International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC), myBMP, Organic Cotton, Recycled Cotton, REEL Cotton, Regenerative Cotton (ROC™), In-Conversion Cotton (“Transitional” in the US), EUCOTTON – Organic and the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol.
GOALS
Our goal is to increase the industry’s use of more sustainable cotton from 30% to 50% by 2025.
In 2020, 30% of all cotton used in the industry came from recognized programs and initiatives. Through this challenge, we aim to increase this to more than 50% by 2025 as participating companies raise the bar, ensuring all their cotton comes from one or more of our recognized sources by the same year.
The 2025 Sustainable Cotton Challenge in numbers
The number of Sustainable Cotton Challenge signatories in 2023.
Signatories that were already sourcing 100% of their cotton from recognized programs and initiatives by 2022.
Cotton sourced from recognized programs and initiatives by the signatories in 2022.
SPOTLIGHT ON
Discover Progress Made
The 2025 Sustainable Cotton Challenge Dashboard tracks participating companies’ progress toward sourcing 100% of their cotton from programs and initiatives that boost the income of smallholder farmers and eliminate or reduce the hazardous pesticides and synthetic fertilizers used by 2025.
Explore
Dive deeper into the requirements
When signing up to a material challenge, companies agree to a set of requirements, as well as to respect our values of integrity, inclusive community, learning, and collaboration.
LEARN MORE
Find out more about cotton production
Read about the sustainability challenges that come with conventional cotton production, the opportunities to overcome them, and the steps you can start taking to reduce your impact.