##African cotton producers are tapping into a fast‑growing premium segment driven by origin‑verified supply.
Seth Onyango, bird story agency
African producers are racing to supply cotton that buyers can trace from its country of origin as global scrutiny of supply chains intensifies.
It comes as fashion brands and textile retailers face growing pressure from consumers and regulators to show exactly where their raw materials are sourced.
Brands, especially in Europe, are facing greater scrutiny as the European Union moves to curb products linked to forced labour. The EU Forced Labour Regulation will bar such goods from being placed on, sold in or exported from the European market from December 2027.
Cotton producers in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Benin and Mozambique are just some that are further along preparing to meet demand for origin‑verified fibre under the Better Cotton Initiative’s new system.
Verification is one way African growers and ginners are trying to put their fibre in front of more international buyers and open new export markets.
The shift could give African cotton access to buyers looking for audited fibre and offer producers in major cotton markets a new selling point.
Laura Lotamois, BCI supply chain coordinator, said Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Benin and Mozambique were already participating at farm level, while ginners were getting certified to meet demand for physical BCI cotton.
“All African countries participating in the BCI Programme have been prepared for traceability… all countries are prepared for traceability and ginners are actively getting certified to meet orders for Physical BCI Cotton,” Lotamois, told bird story agency during the Initiative’s webinar on traceability and certification.
Better Cotton launched its traceability system in November 2023 after years of work. It was designed to give brands and retailers a clearer view of where cotton comes from and how it moves through a supply chain that can cross several countries and involve many companies.
Under the older mass balance system, certified cotton can be mixed with conventional cotton while the certified volumes are tracked.
But physical traceability is different. It allows buyers to see the country where the cotton came from and follow its movement through certified companies. That difference is becoming more important to buyers.
For premium retailers, and particularly luxury groups, origin can form part of a product’s value.
Kering, for instance, the French luxury group behind brands including Gucci and Saint Laurent, reports 97% traceability for its key raw materials and 98% for leather. Cotton is moving in the same direction.
“Buyers of cotton are increasingly requiring proof of origin and want to know whether the cotton in their products comes from,” Nataliya Prongué, BCI supply chain manager, said during the webinar.
Under mass balance, certified and conventional cotton can be mixed while the certified volumes are tracked through the supply chain. Physical traceability keeps the cotton tied to its origin as it moves through certified companies.
Better Cotton said during the webinar that more than half of the cotton entering its programme at farm level was traceable. Whether it stays physically traceable through the supply chain depends on customer demand and the certification of supply chain companies.
The shift is opening up a market for suppliers that can provide verified fibre. “Supplying traceable cotton helps you qualify for contracts with major global brands,” Prongué said.
European luxury companies have been paying more attention to local and traceable materials as they seek greater control over where their raw materials come from. A recent Vogue Business report on European cotton said luxury groups including Kering and LVMH were looking at European cotton partly for traceability and supply chain resilience.
That does not mean African cotton will automatically fetch a higher price.
Rather, verification can make it eligible for buyers that need proof of origin before placing orders. For producers, that can open the door to more potential customers.
African cotton is already entering this market through several certification and verification systems.
Cotton made in Africa, another major sustainability standard, said independent verifiers carried out 24 missions across 20 companies in 10 producing countries in 2025, with strong assessments across management, people, prosperity and environmental performance.
Germany’s REWE Group recently traced 100% of the Cotton made in Africa fibre used in its own brands back to origin by the end of 2025. It shows how origin information is becoming part of routine buying decisions.
For African producers, such demand gives them another reason to make their fibre easier to identify and verify.
The opportunity matters because traceability can set cotton apart by origin at a time when buyers have more suppliers to choose from.
Better Cotton had 1.39 million licensed farmers producing 5.64 million tonnes in the 2023 to 2024 season, equal to about 23% of global cotton production.
The programme includes major producers such as India, Pakistan, Brazil, Australia, Türkiye, China, Egypt and the United States. Physical cotton from Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Mozambique can now be traced back to the ginner, according to Better Cotton’s current country coverage.
That puts African suppliers into a wider race for buyers seeking verified fibre.
Africa also has several established cotton producing regions that can offer different origins within the same continental supply base.
The next challenge is getting enough ginners certified to turn that potential into actual supply.
Better Cotton formally became a certification scheme in February 2025. Suppliers and manufacturers that buy or sell physical BCI cotton must now go through independent certification against its Chain of Custody Standard.
For ginners, the extra cost is the audit rather than a new participation fee.
“Participation costs in the programme remains the same as for Mass Balance,” Lotamois said.
“The only added cost for certified ginners/suppliers is the cost of audit.”
Audit costs vary depending on the certification body, the size of a facility and how complex its operations are. Better Cotton advises companies to compare certification bodies and check that they are ready before an audit.
The organisation is already getting ready for the next ginning season in Africa.
“We are also kicking off preparations for the 2026-27 ginning season by onboarding ginners in all of these regions as we speak,” Lotamois said.
The amount of physical cotton available will ultimately depend on both certification and buyer orders.
Certified ginners can sell Better Cotton through either physical or mass balance channels. A ginner may therefore have certified cotton but still sell some of it through the mass balance system.
“As certified ginners can sell their cotton as both Physical or Mass Balance BCI Cotton, it is difficult to give an exact percentage, as it depends on the orders ginners receive,” Lotamois said.
It makes the link between certification and demand important.
Better Cotton said more than half of the cotton entering its programme at farm level was traceable. Whether it remains physically traceable depends on customer demand and certification across the supply chain.
More than 3,700 suppliers and over 300 ginners were certified at the time of the webinar, with spinners sourcing more than 830,000 tonnes of physical BCI cotton since launch.
Among retailers and brands, 84 members had invested in activating traceability and expressed direct interest in physical BCI cotton. That represented 27% of the Initiative’s retailer and brand membership.
The amount of physical BCI cotton bought by retailers and brand members had grown more than 40 times since the system was launched, reaching about 67,000 tonnes, according to figures presented during the webinar.
For African producers, the significance is less about the label itself than what it allows them to do.
A verified origin can put cotton from Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Benin or Mozambique into sourcing talks where the buyer needs to know where its raw material came from.
It can also help brands build clearer supply chains. Better Cotton says its system is designed to show members the journey of physical cotton from country of origin through the supply chain, while future work aims to increase visibility towards farm level.
That is becoming more valuable as fashion companies face pressure to account for what sits behind their products.
For African cotton producers, the opportunity is to make origin part of the pitch.
The fibre does not have to compete only on price. It can compete on a mix of production standards, verified origin and the ability to give buyers information they increasingly need.
“Availability of Physical (traceable) BCI Cotton depends on the number of ginners certified in each country,” Lotamois said.
The race now is to turn that availability into a steady supply of African cotton for buyers that want to know where their fibre began.
bird story agency
Useful links:https://procurementmag.com/news/kering-centralises-its-sourcing-to-slash-emissions-by-34,https://bettercotton.org/who-we-are/annual-report/,https://www.rewe-group.com/en/press-and-media/newsroom/stories/milestone-reached-100-traceable-cotton-from-the-initiative/,https://www.vogue.com/,https://www.kering.com/en/
