Better Cotton appoints co-chairs and recruits new members including M&S and J.Crew representatives

Better Cotton, the world’s largest cotton sustainability initiative, has announced the appointment of two new co-chairs and new members to its council including Elodie Gilart, Senior Sustainability Manager at M&S, and Doug Forster, Chief Sourcing Officer at J Crew Group.

The new co-chairs are Bill Ballenden, a newly elected member and the Head of Sustainability & Innovation at Louis Dreyfus Company Cotton, and Tamar Hoek, Senior Policy Director for Sustainable Fashion at Solidaridad.

Alan McClay, CEO at Better Cotton, said: "I’m excited to welcome our new co-chairs and members to the Better Cotton Council.

"Their experience, insights and perspectives will be invaluable as the council continues to evolve to best serve Better Cotton, its affiliated farmers and diverse network of members and partners. I look forward to the discussions we have to come."

The other new members who have been onboarded by the initiative are Nadia Bilal, Managing Director of Spinning at Nishat Chunian, and Vicente Sando, Executive Coordinator at FONPA, Mozambique’s National Forum of Cotton Farmers, in addition to Gilart and Forster.

Elodie Gilart, Senior Sustainability Manager at M&S, said: "Cotton is the main material in our portfolio. Better Cotton has therefore been a key partner for us since we joined as a pioneer member back in 2009.

"Since then, we have achieved our cotton conversion target for all garments in 2019 and see this partnership as essential to progressing to the next level of our strategy, focusing on traceability and the acceleration of impact at the farm level."

Doug Forster, Chief Sourcing Officer at J Crew Group, added: "At J Crew Group, our sourcing of Better Cotton is key to our goal to have 100% of our cotton sourced sustainably by 2025.

"Cotton is our largest volume material, representing nearly 70% of our fibre footprint, and we are committed to sourcing cotton that benefits both people and planet."