Ecologically-fair cotton (OFT): Cotonea is the third largest processor worldwide

In 2016, Cotonea occupied the third place in NGO Textile Exchange’s ranking list of the 10 larg-est processors of ecologically-fair cotton worldwide. For more than 10 years Cotonea has been consistently sourcing organically-fair cotton from its own cultivation and, for their long-standing commitment in Uganda and Kyrgyzstan, have now been rewarded with third place on the Organic Fair Trade ranking list (OFT). Only Boll & Branch from New Jersey and the Swiss Coop have achieved a higher ranking position than Elmer & Zweifel with Cotonea.

The Organic Textile Report acknowledges that Elmer & Zweifel as a company, with their brand Cotonea, have found a balance between the market’s price challenges and their own ethical standards with regards to all companies taking part in the production process. “Cotonea has technical know-how at their disposal and produces high quality products with their organic cotton, whose production is monitored from the fibre to the finished product.

For more than 10 years, Cotonea has sourced its cotton from their own organically-fair projects in Kyrgyzstan and Uganda. In Uganda, the Gulu Agricultural Development Company (GADC) trained 18,000 farmers in organic farming between 2014 and 2016 with the support of the Ger-man Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). A further 40,000 farmers are on the waiting list. “This organic farming programme significantly contributes to the development of this region in northern Uganda” Roland Stelzer, managing partner of Elmer & Zweifel GmbH, is pleased to announce.

For the first time, Cotonea is also one of the top 10 brands with the largest organic cotton growth in the 2016 report. They took the eighth place amongst brands with the highest increase.

About Textile Exchange: the aim of the non-profit organisation Textile Exchange, which is based in Texas, USA, is to promote the production and use of organic cotton with the help of farmers, producers/brands and retailers. Textile Exchange focuses on sustainability and trans-parency in the entire textile value creation chain.

Cotonea / Elmer & Zweifel: the company has been concentrating on organically-fair cotton and the production of home and household textiles and outerwear since 2003. Under the brand name Cotonea, the company produces and sells bed and bath linen, bedding and baby linen as well as clothing from their own organic cotton projects, and the term: “Cotonea inside” means that ecologically-fair Cotonea-fabrics have been used by (often well-known) brand-name manufacturers in their products.