#Raw Materials

2024-10-03

The 82nd Plenary Meeting: PSAC Session on fiber requirements

During each International Cotton Advisory Committee Plenary Meeting, the Private Sector Advisory Council hosts a session on the topic they’d focused on discussing throughout the year, sharing their insights with the audience and working to advance the interests of the global cotton industry’s business community.

This year, the PSAC hosted the Fifth Open Session, entitled, “Traceability and Sustainability Requirements in Natural vs. Man-made Fibers.” The Chair of the PSAC, Mr Peter Wakefield of Wakefield Inspection, introduced the four speakers:

Anees Khawaja, MG Apparel: Mr Khawaja emphasized the critical need to put sustainability at the core of cotton's strategy, especially because it is biodegradable and provides employment in developing regions — thus making a stark comparison with synthetic fibers, which do neither of those things.

Marc Lewkowitz, Supima: Representing the perspective of the Producers and Ginners Committee, he offered three recommendations: find a common, practical definition of what traceability is, develop a clear and concise bale ID system, and ensure there are support systems to help gradually transition to global implementation.

Eimear McDonagh, Agri Direct Australia: Speaking on behalf of the Merchants Committee, Ms McDonagh offered several conclusions at the end of her presentation, including that cotton is being held to a different standard than other fibers; and that success will depend on collaborating with governments and brands.

Debra Guo, Textile Exchange: Ms Guo discussed a number of topics, including the concept of “preferred materials” — a fiber or raw material that delivers consistently reduced impacts and increased benefits for climate, nature, and people against the conventional equivalent, through a holistic approach to transforming production systems.

The 82nd Plenary Meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) has the theme, '"Global Partnerships to Promote Innovation in the Cotton and Textile Value Chains. Scheduled for September 30 to October 3, 2024, at the International Hotel in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the conference will be followed by several Technical Tours of Uzbekistan's cotton and textile industries. For more information and to see the full agenda, please click here.

ICAC to support European Commission on pending PEF legislation

The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) is proud to announce that it has been included as a member of the European Commission’s Technical Advisory Board (TAB) on the Product Environmental Footprint methodology. The Commission developed the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) to assess and communicate the life cycle environmental performance of products and organizations.

ICAC to collaborate with Uzbekistan and Bizpando on regenerative agriculture

The Government of Uzbekistan has allocated 55,000 hectares of land to implement a regenerative agriculture program for cotton as part of a collaborative project with the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) and Bizpando, a company with a a blockchain-based internet platform designed to ensure supply chain compliance.

Textile Exchange publishes cotton Life Cycle Assessment study to strengthen impact data

Textile Exchange has published the first in a series of seven Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies designed to improve the quality and robustness of environmental impact data for raw material production across the fashion, textile, and apparel industry. The first LCA study focuses on cotton and addresses critical data gaps and methodology variability through new high-quality data across key producing countries. The study includes organic, regenerative, recycled, and country averages for conventional cotton production systems, providing a clearer picture of the associated environmental impact.

Fashion for Good mobilises industry to adopt mass balance attribution and accelerate decarbonisation

Fashion for Good launches today the Mass Balance Demonstrator project, a collaborative industry initiative to implement and scale the mass balance attribution (MBA) chain-of-custody model for biomass-attributed PET in textile applications. The project represents a concrete step toward accelerating brand-driven decarbonisation across the apparel value chain.

A Powerful Opening: Global thought leaders launch the International Cotton Conference Bremen

The International Cotton Conference Bremen will open on 25 March 2026 in the Parliament building of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen with a keynote session of exceptional calibre. Distinguished international experts will set the stage for the conference by offering incisive perspectives on the most pressing challenges and the defining trends shaping the future of the global cotton trade. Their insights will span a broad spectrum — from geopolitically driven disruptions affecting global supply chains to the opportunities emerging from innovation-led agriculture capable of supporting a growing world population. Together, these opening keynotes will frame the dialogue of the conference, highlighting both the complexity of today’s market environment and the pathways toward a resilient and forward-looking cotton sector.

Lenzing Group positions bio‑based materials as a strategic asset for Europe’s economic security

The Lenzing Group, a leading supplier of regenerated cellulose fibers for the textile and nonwovens industries, hosted a high‑level roundtable in Brussels to discuss how bio‑based materials can strengthen Europe’s economic security and support the shift toward a fossil‑free future. Organized in cooperation with Euractiv, the event brought together representatives of the European Commission, the UK Mission to the EU, academia, civil society, and industry.

VANDEWIELE Group at Techtextil 2026 – Textile innovations together

The VANDEWIELEGroup will showcase its latest technologies for technical textiles at Techtextil 2026 in Frankfurt from April 21–24 (Hall 12.0, Stand C21). As a global leader in textile machinery, the group brings together specialised brands to support the evolving demands of high-performance textile applications. Visitors will discover solutions in laboratory testing, yarn joining, yarn feeding and thread tension monitoring, designed to create measurable value across the textile value chain.