Make Cotton Sustainable

NEWS REPORT / BUSINESS STANDARD

Alok Industries, Victoria's Secret And Burkina Faso

There is another Victoria's Secret: The Indian connection to the global rage tied in with cotton sources from Burkina Faso, says a report in the Business Standard. The story begins a little while back.

According to an earlier West Africa Cotton Improvement Program (WACIP) report, in July 2007, the National Union of Burkinabe Cotton Producers (UNPCB) signed an agreement with Limited Brands on behalf of Victoria's Secret to purchase 600 MT of organic “fair trade” cotton, the bulk of Burkina Faso's organic cotton crop. Under the contract, UNPCB had to assure proper handling so the cotton could be certified as organic. To support this innovative deal, WACIP contributed funds to help UNPCB purchase locally-fabricated cotton sacks and wrapping materials as well as training of farmers.

Now, says the Business Standard, Alok Industries' has had a three year sourcing arrangement from Burkina Faso and is now taking its machines to the West African Country.

According to the Business Standard, Alok Industries’ involvement with Victoria’s Secret and Burkina Faso is actually three years old. Since 2007, Alok Industries along with its Sri Lankan partner, MAS Intimates, sources close to 300 tonnes of Burkinabe cotton from there. This cotton gets shipped to India and Alok Industries spins 200 tonnes of yarn from that. This yarn is then made into fabric and sent to MAS Intimates factories for the final garment before it hits high street fashion shelves from New York and Paris to London and Tokyo.

But now, in order to make the economics even more viable and to kickstart industrialisation in the former French colony, Alok Industries is planning to set up a manufacturing base - a spinning unit of 68,000 spindles.

Currently, Alok Industries sources 3,500 tonnes of yarn from outside to fulfill its own clothing requirement. A facility in Burkina Faso will now give it an option to make 600 tonnes of yarn every month. That’s 7,200 tonnes every year which the company can use for its own requirement or sell to other textile companies.

Alok Industries exports 35 per cent of its products to over 70 countries in the US, Europe, South America and Africa. Other than Victoria’s Secret, its global customers include GAP, JC Penney, Mothercare and Walmart. Alok Industries’ export income in 2010 has seen 60 per cent annual growth at Rs 1560 crore.

Read here the full report on "Alok Industries spins Victoria's Secret in Burkina Faso" in the Business Standard

Photo Courtesy: WACIP and Victoria's Secret