Yagi & Co has launched their proprietary system, Cotton iD, to clarify the traceability of organic cotton. The system promises consistent traceability management of organic cotton from field to yarn, through a management system that links the international certifications for the organic cotton produced in India. India is the world’s largest producer of organic cotton.
The existence of two different certifications for organic cotton – for processes prior to ginning, and for ginning the process of separating seed and cotton from harvested cotton balls – has made it difficult to achieve consistent traceability management. There have been cases of large-scale fraud related to organic cotton in India in the past.
Yagi & Co’s Cotton iD system enables transparent traceability management of 85% or more of the organic cotton they handle, from cotton field to thread. The company, a member of the Global Organic Textile Standard since 2006 and one of Japan’s top companies in terms of the volume of internationally certified organic cotton handled, distributes products under their brand, Unito Organic, including yarn, textile and garment. They can provide certifications of the management system to customers purchasing applicable organic cotton from the company.
The company has a group company, Tsubame Towel, which produces the largest volume of organic cotton towels in Japan, and Yamaya Orimono Co., Ltd., a specialist in yarn processing which is also GOTS-certified. They participate in activities to support the conversion to organic farming for cotton farmers in India and, as part of their sustainability framework for organic cotton, provide school support for the children of farmers. Organic cotton is an essential part of the company’s group.
“We are so much aware of the need for traceability management that goes further in terms of traceability transparency, which is particularly important in the textile industry. By having support of the spinning mill, we want to make our management system firm, and provide safer and more reliable organic cotton to countries all over the world in order to proceed with our sustainable business,” said Yamaya Orimono Co., Ltd.
