Make Cotton Sustainable

PRESS RELEASE / ORGANIC EXCHANGE

Organic Exchange Announces 5 year goals

Organic Exchange has announced a series of new initiatives that it hopes will advance the sustainable development of textiles across the global supply chain between now and 2015.

Organic Exchange Proposed Deliverables 2010-2015 include:

• Inform and inspire individuals and their organizations to integrate environmental and social considerations into the global textile business.
• Become the international institution where innovation and information around sustainability in the textile value chain is captured, validated, and disseminated.
• Promote the engagement of farmers, other fiber producers, and supply chain manufacturers within the textile value chain. Provide the tools and resources to advance their efforts to improve sustainability practices in raw materials.
• Help standardize textile product integrity by becoming the recognized authority on integrity within the textile industry.  As a leading authority, play a role as mentor and capacity-builder across the value chain. Research and provide access to information on relevant standards and practices that support organic and sustainable textile claims.
• Develop and implement chain-of-custody standards and systems to support sustainability claims. Create the one stop, sustainable textiles help desk for tracking issues and getting expert feedback quickly.
• Build a compelling regional partner portfolio and a network of sustainable design, development, production, and product experts.
• Create global forums, blogs, and other communications platforms around integrity and innovation in global sustainable textile issues.
• Maintain a database of companies offering innovation, best practices, and authenticity of sustainable textile products and processes.
• Gather, synthesize, and publish data on trends and issues that impact textile sustainability.
• Develop sustainable textile messaging material that brands can customize to influence and educate their employees, stakeholders, and consumers.
• Provide coaching, advising, and direct consulting services for development and validation of company sustainable textile strategy.
• Deliver an assessment tool that companies can use to evaluate the sustainability of textile products and processes and make informed decisions.
• Develop an industry-wide ‘Factory Environmental Performance Standard’ that can be used to evaluate individual factories and/or mills on environmental criteria (water, chemicals, energy, etc.).
• Connect funders and investors with the textile value chain and our accredited implementation partners.