Fashion retailer Mango has announced it is to use regenerative cotton in its products for the first time with the first selected garments expected to go in sale in early 2024. The Spanish clothing brand has been working with agricultural technology company Materra, which uses regenerative farming systems to produce climate-resilient cotton that is said to use 80% less water and produce 30% fewer carbon emissions than standard cotton.
The system also offers complete traceability of the cotton value chain, from the soil to the final garment.
To achieve this, farmers in India will collect soil and crop data via Materra’s digital Co:Farm platform. This will allow Mango to monitor the evolution of indicators such as fertility, soil health, number of nutrients, use of water, machinery and pesticides and size of the plot used.
The initiative is part of Mango’s wider sustainability strategy which encompasses moving towards increasingly more sustainable products, reducing its impact on the planet, and working towards the full transparency and traceability of its supply chain by 2030.
Earlier this year, it launched its first denim collection designed using circularity criteria to allow the reuse and recycling of the garments after their useful life, and has also recently worked with Pyratex, a Spanish textile supplier that specialises in fabrics made from natural renewable resources such as seaweed.
Andrés Fernández, Mango’s Sustainability and Sourcing Director, said: “As a global fashion company, we have a clear goal – to help create a fairer society and reduce the impact of the fashion industry on the environment.
“This is why we have joined forces with key partners like Materra, who will help us move more quickly to ensure that 100% of the fibres we use are sustainable by 2030.”
Based in London and Ahmedabad, Materra designs custom growing and sourcing programs, as well as mobile and web applications providing agronomy support to farmers.
