What do results show?
Sustainability efforts are driven by 11 companies leading the way (5 in 2017), followed by 13 more companies that are well on their way (8 in 2017) and 15 others just starting the journey (18 in 2017).
Of the 77 companies assessed, the remaining 38 have not yet started the journey (48 in 2017), including 26 companies that scored 0 points.
POLICY
- Top 5 in 2020: C&A, H&M Group, Woolworths, Levi Strauss & Co., IKEA.
- 33 companies are leading the way, 5 are well on the way, 5 are starting the journey, and 34 have not yet started the journey.
- 11 companies have a target for sourcing 100% more sustainable cotton by 2020 (unchanged compared to 2017): Adidas, C&A, Decathlon, H&M Group, IKEA, Levi Strauss & Co., Marks & Spencer Group plc, Nike Inc., Otto, Tchibo, Woolworths.
- 34 companies have some kind of target for sourcing more sustainable cotton (19 in 2017).
- 27 companies have no clear policies on cotton (35 in 2017).
- Top 5 progress since 2017: Lojas Renner, Target, S. Oliver, El Corte Inglés, Next.
UPTAKE
- Top 5 in 2020: Adidas, IKEA, H&M Group, Otto, Tchibo - all of them source 80% of their cotton as sustainable.
- 11 companies are leading the way, 7 are well on the way, 6 are starting the journey, and 53 have not yet started the journey.
- 29 companies report some sourcing of more sustainable cotton (in volume and/or percentage of total use) (22 in 2017).
- 25 companies publicly disclose the percentage of more sustainable cotton used (18 in 2017).
- 52 do not source more sustainable cotton or do not disclose this information publicly.
- 25 companies disclosed the volume of more sustainable cotton they use, publicly or in confidence (20 in 2017).
- Top 5 progress since 2017: Decathlon, Bestseller, Levi Strauss & Co., H&M Group, Columbia Sportswear.
TRACEABILITY
- Top 5 in 2020: Gildan, Benetton, Esprit, Nike Inc., C&A.
- 4 companies are leading the way (1 in 2017), 9 are well on the way (6 in 2017), 16 are starting the journey (15 in 2017), and 48 have not yet started the journey (53 in 2017).
- 11 companies publish information on the absolute volume of all cotton lint used: IKEA, C&A, Otto Group, Marks and Spencer Group plc, Levi Strauss & Co., Nike Inc., Benetton Group S.r.l., PVH Corp., Hugo Boss AG, Gildan Activewear Inc., VF Corporation.
- Only IKEA, C&A, and VF Corporation publish some information on the countries of origin of the cotton they use.
- 4 companies publish some information on their yarn manufacturers (2 in 2017): Benetton Group S.r.l., Esprit Holdings Ltd, Gildan Activewear Inc., H&M Group.
- 10 companies publish some information on their tier-2 suppliers (fabric makers) (3 in 2017).
- 26 companies publish some information on their tier-1 finished products suppliers (18 in 2017) including 13 publishing 100% of their suppliers for this tier.
- Top 5 progress since 2017: Benetton, Gildan, Esprit, Adidas, Nike Inc..