Cotton LEADS℠ Partner Meeting – Mexico City

The Cotton LEADS™ Program hosted a Partner Meeting on April 21 in Mexico City, focused on responsible cotton production and continuous improvement efforts. Ten representatives from 8 Cotton LEADS™ partner companies and 7 companies interested in joining the program attended the event. Following the session, Omega and Textiles CM became the newest Cotton LEADS™ partners.

The Partner Meeting included a program update, highlights of responsible production in the U.S. and efforts for continuous improvement in production in the U.S. and Australia. Mark Messura, Senior Vice President of Cotton Incorporated shared how the Cotton LEADS™ program has evolved over the last year and how the program promotes partners through meetings, events and press. Dr. Andy Jordan, U.S. Sustainability Advisor, described the Cotton LEADS™ Program’s efforts with Field to Market® to measure and monitor progress. In addition, Dr. Jordan shared four case studies of U.S. growers who use the Field to Market® Fieldprint Calculator and how their efforts have led to further reduction of pesticides, improvements in water efficiency and improved soil health and biodiversity.

The meeting focused on the program’s commitment to continuous improvement through investments in research, technology and innovation. Joint research efforts including the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the facilitation of a Research Roundtable in 2015 were highlighted. The LCA research will be the most comprehensive and robust study of its kind – including cotton production data representing 67% of global cotton production, knit and woven manufacturing data from 5 leading textile manufacturing regions. Many Cotton LEADS™ Partners are participating in this research and are being promoted through the program’s new partner list that was introduced at the meeting. Efforts in Australia to audit and set sustainability targets were also highlighted.

Following the presentations, a partner discussion was facilitated and continued over lunch.