This evolution saw the introduction of a new, two-cohort structure. The Community Cohort continues to support learning, collaboration, and cross-industry exchange, while the Action Cohort provides a clear structure for brands, retailers, and raw material producers ready to take tangible action backed by Textile Exchange’s expertise.

Starting in 2027, brands and retailers in the Action Cohort will be required to:

• Report material sourcing volumes through the Textile Exchange Materials Benchmark. Reporting through the Materials Benchmark provides clear to inform a company’s sourcing strategy. Participation also helps streamline their efforts in reporting to other voluntary and mandatory initiatives, while demonstrating industry leadership.
  

• Set targets for the percentage of materials sourced through standards, certification, or other programs that verify practices for preferred ways of production. These targets should cover relevant key materials accounting for at least 80% of a member company’s portfolio. They should be clearly defined, time-bound and measurable, and deemed to be achievable but challenging for the business.
  

• Work toward leading by example. Action Cohort members will also have opportunities to demonstrate leadership through future collective action initiatives designed to build shared momentum.
  

Measuring progress against a shared set of aggregate targets

While each member must set its own company-level targets, Textile Exchange will use the data reported into the Materials Benchmark to measure the cohort’s combined progress against a set of aggregate targets too.

Developed through a combination of impact data modeling and extensive stakeholder feedback, these targets set a shared level of ambition among members. They have been set for the percentage of materials sourced through programs that verify practices across specific intervention areas, including:

• Reducing or eliminating pesticide and fertilizer use
  

• Addressing deforestation and conversion
  

• Upholding animal welfare
  

• Using recycled feedstocks (with focus on textile feedstocks)
  

• Ensuring human rights due diligence
  

Textile Exchange encourages brands and retailers in the Action Cohort to align their overall company-level targets with its aggregate targets, but they don’t have to match exactly at this stage. In practice, this means that company-level targets can be higher or lower for specific years but should contribute meaningfully to these common goals. Taking this approach allows for flexibility in implementation based on the unique context of each member.

The aggregate results will be shared publicly, while more detailed results will be shared with participating brands. This data lets members of the Action Cohort compare their performance against these north-star targets, as well as the average performance of their peers.

The full set of aggregate targets can be found on page eight of the new guide.

How were the intervention areas selected?

The intervention areas and corresponding targets are grounded in Textile Exchange’s principles of preferred production systems.

To help members identify and prioritize action, Textile Exchange has also developed step-by-step pathways for cropping, animal, and recycled production systems. Each pathway sets out clear interventions to avoid and reduce negative outcomes and move toward actions that restore, regenerate, and transform.

You can dive deeper into the pathways and their development in the supplementary document: Preferred Production Systems: Pathways for Action.

What are the benefits of tracking progress in this way?

By tracking collective progress, Textile Exchange will be able to identify what the cohort is achieving together and where further action may be needed.

The insights gained through progress tracking will also inform the organization’s future research, guidance, and collective action opportunities for members, supporting its goals to scale preferred production systems, drive beneficial impact, and ensure the resilience of supply chains and producer livelihoods.

The new guidance from Textile Exchange on its Action Cohort’s reporting and target setting requirements is available now.