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Better Cotton, an international cotton initiative, has announced the appointment of two new co-chairs and five new members to the Better Cotton Council.
“I’m excited to welcome our new co-chairs and members to the Better Cotton Council. Their experience, insights and perspectives will be invaluable as the council continues to evolve to best serve Better Cotton, its affiliated farmers and its diverse network of members and partners,” says Alan McClay, CEO at Better Cotton. “I look forward to the discussions we have to come.”
The new co-chairs are Bill Ballenden, a newly elected Better Cotton Council member and the head of sustainability and innovation at Louis Dreyfus Company Cotton, and Tamar Hoek, senior policy director for sustainable fashion at Solidaridad. Together, they will execute the duty of chair, acting both as internal and external ambassadors for Better Cotton and ensuring policy decisions are presented to the council and appropriately considered.
“We are delighted to be working together as a team in order to support Better Cotton and work with the Better Cotton Council, as sustainability and traceability in the cotton value chain become increasingly important. The fact that we have a different role within the chain but share the same passion for cotton and sustainability, will allow us to efficiently serve the membership, the council and the entire cotton value chain from farm to fabric,” Ballenden and Hoek said in a joint statement.
Five new members were also elected to the Better Cotton Council, including Doug Forster, chief sourcing officer at J.Crew Group; Elodie Gilart, senior sustainability manager at Marks & Spencer; Nadia Bilal, managing director of spinning at Nishat Chunian and Vicente Sando, executive coordinator at FONPA, a Mozambican cotton farmer association, who began their positions in June.
“At J.Crew Group, our sourcing of Better Cotton is key to our goal to have 100% of our cotton sourced sustainably by 2025. Cotton is our largest volume material, representing nearly 70% of our fiber footprint, and we are committed to sourcing cotton that benefits both people and the planet,” says Forster.
“Cotton is the main material in our portfolio. Better Cotton has therefore been a key partner for us since we joined as a pioneer member back in 2009. Since then, we have achieved our cotton conversion target for all garments in 2019 and see this partnership as essential to progress to the next level of our strategy, focusing on traceability and the acceleration of impact at the farm level,” says Gilart.
“Nishat Chunian Ltd. has been a trusted partner of Better Cotton from its beginning. In my new role as a council member, I look forward to engaging with all stakeholders for capacity building in upstream supply chains to make them more robust and transparent. I am passionate about regenerative agricultural practices and making technology more accessible for cotton growers and ginners in Asia. Going forward, I will support Better Cotton for all sustainability initiatives, promoting innovation, inclusivity and the circular economy to drive sustainability within the global cotton industry and help make our planet a better place,” says Bilal.
“FONPA is an organization representing mainly small farmers. Our contribution as a member of the Better Cotton Council is to work towards an inclusive, transparent, collaborative, and sustainable value chain that supports decent work for cotton farmers,” says Sando.
Better Cotton also announced the re-election of Rajan Bhopal, international project manager at PAN UK, and Shahid Zia, executive director at the Lok Sanjh Foundation to its council.
With these newly elected members come the departure of three members from the Council. Gerson Fajardo of Walmart; Pierre Chebab of Louis Dreyfus Company; and Kevin Quinlan, independent, have completed their tenures and now left the council.
The Better Cotton Council, which is the subject of a biennial nomination and election process, comprises a select group of members who sit at the center of the organization and are responsible for its strategic direction. Council members represent retailers, brands, manufacturers, suppliers, producers and civil society across the cotton industry.