Global garment retailer C&A to buy organic cotton from India

Leading global garment retailer C&A has decided to source organic cotton from India to make garments, a move that will give a big boost to Indian farmers.
"The C&A will source 7,500 tons of organic cotton from India this year for manufacturing clothes," Anuradha Bhavnani, India head of Shell Foundation, which is instrumental in sourcing global customers for Indian organic cotton, told reporters.
Shell Foundation, a UK-based organisation funded by petroleum major Shell, has been working among Indian cotton farmers through NGOs.
C&A has 1,172 stores across 16 EU countries. The clothing made from Indian cotton would be available in all its outlets, she said.
"For many years, C&A Europe has been purchasing products from India. In the coming years, we even plan to strengthen our existing commitment to organically produced cotton produced in India," C&A Executive Board member Andreas G Seitz said in a statement.
By 2012, C&A hopes to switch more than 20 per cent of its product range into organic cotton, Seitz said.
Bhavnani noted that C&A would be able to manufacture about 12.5 million items of clothing including jeans and T-shirts from Indian organic cotton.
Besides global players, Shell Foundation is also talking to a big retail chain from India for supply of organic cotton.
An assured market for organic agriculture product will encourage Indian farmers to grow more such items. Besides, organic cotton is likely to fetch them more rewards compared to normal variety. var RN = new String (Math.random()); var RNS = RN.substring (2,11); b2 = ' '; if (doweshowbellyad==1) bellyad.innerHTML = b2;