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THE SUSTAINABLE COTTON CLUSTER

DELIVERS REAL RESULTS WITHIN 3 YEARS

At the beginning of the new millennium the South African textile and clothing sectors
faced serious challenges. Following China's inclusion in the World Trade Organisation
in 2001, local textile and clothing manufacturers suffered because of the cheaper
imports of Chinese fabrics and finished products. Employment in the sectors
slumped dramatically and more than 100,000 textile and clothing jobs were lost.

The programme is funded by the Department of
Trade and Industry's (the dti) Competitiveness
Improvement Programme (CIP), and managed by the
IDC and the CTCP Desk, which was structured to
drive competitiveness and increase productivity and
employment opportunities in the South African textile
and clothing sectors.

The success of this demand-driven initiative is the fact
that this is not only a virtual integrated programme,
but a programme where retailers such as the Mr Price
Group, Edcon, Woolworths and Ackermans set their
competitive goals aside and all meet face to face, as
retailers who are determined to set the standards for
ealising the opportunity for growth, the
RSustainable Cotton Cluster was formed in 2013.
sourcing sustainable produced South African cotton.
This national Cotton
Cluster is an initiative of Sustainability is to
Cotton SA, Government create a balance
as well as like-minded between growing
cotton industry value p r o f i t a b i l i t y ,
chain stakeholders that protecting the
include the farmers, environment and
ginners, spinners, manu- promoting social
facturers and retail responsibility. It is
industries. imperative for the
future of cotton to be
The Sustainable Cotton accountable in the
international arena and adhere to international
Cluster provides a coordinated platform to all the
standards. This is possible with sustainability and
stakeholders in the cotton value chain to ensure the
growth and sustainability of cotton in Southern Africa.
traceability.
This creates a unique integrated supply chain program
(ISCP), that is managed by OrganiMark, and is driven
by retail demand and built on virtual partnerships
amongst supply chain stakeholders. It supports 'near
sourcing' and 'quick response' and provides for supply
chain transparency, price surety and stakeholder trust.

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