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Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) is a non-profit organization that is committed to making cotton cultivation more sustainable and fairer worldwide.
This certification is therefore only relevant for the cultivation of cotton, and not for other parts of the production chain.
Find out what's the story behind your clothing by understanding the certificates. Use the scores to discover at a glance what a certificate means in different sustainability areas.
Cotton has a share of approximately 24.3 percent of the total fibre market. -Textile Exchange
BCI has several rules for farmers who are affiliated with them. These rules vary depending on the size of the farm. In addition to the criteria that the farmers must absolutely adhere to, there are also criteria for improvement. The criteria that we deemed most important are:
Score: 3/4 BCI has strict rules in all areas for making cotton production more sustainable. They were not given 4/4 because pesticides and GMOs may still be used.
BCI has strict rules for the working conditions of the farmers and their employees. Again, these rules vary for the size of the farm. The main criteria of their standard are:
Score: 3/4 These are strict rules regarding working conditions, but paying a living wage is not mandatory. Because of this, it did not get a full score.
BCI is only about the cultivation of cotton. In general, no animals are used for this and there are therefore no rules about animal welfare.
Score: 0/4 Animal welfare does not apply to cotton cultivation.
BCI certified companies are encouraged to keep improving. That is why, for each part of the Standard, there are both core values that farmers must really comply with, as well as areas for improvement for which the farmers can earn extra points. Certified companies must keep improving.
The reports containing the requirements of the certified companies are not shared publicly.
Score: 2/4 The reports are not shared publicly, which results in less transparency. If the reports were shared, we would assign a full score here.
The parties affiliated with BCI are audited by a third independent party.
Score: 4/4
When you buy something that contains BCI certified cotton it is important to realize that they work with a Mass Balance system. This means that they don't really keep track of which product the cotton ends up in. After the production, the BCI cotton is thrown together with all the other cotton from the region and processed together into a fabric. It is therefore very possible that a brand that uses BCI cotton sells a T-shirt where only 10% really comes from the BCI farmers.
But you also have brands that do not use BCI cotton, but where some of the cotton in their products come from BCI farmers. This is because BCI works with 'cotton credits'. For any amount of cotton their BCI farmers produce, the same amount of cotton can be sold to brands as BCI cotton. So the same amount of BCI cotton is produced as is sold, and by buying BCI cotton shirts you do contribute to stimulating more BCI certified cotton.
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