Dive Brief:
- Textile tech company FibreTrace announced Thursday a partnership with food company Cargill and Target to track the origin of cotton gin fibers in real time, according to a press release sent to Retail Dive.
- The partnership is expected to mark 50,000 metric tons of U.S. and Brazilian raw cotton in its first year with special luminescent pigments to create a unique signature. The pigments, the company said, are then tracked across the global supply chain.
- The collaboration is part of sustainability efforts “to deliver innovation, transparency, and fiber integrity for U.S and Brazilian cotton,” said Mitch Standen, head of Americas for FibreTrace.
Dive Insight:
Target said the partnership will help the company accelerate sustainability efforts, which are outlined in the retailer’s most recent sustainability strategy. In it, the retailer said it is “working to meet responsible sourcing commitments for palm oil, cotton, forest-based products, coffee and seafood” with suppliers.
“Achieving full visibility to where the cotton used to produce our products is grown is among the top priorities of our sustainability goals,” said Bill Foudy, senior vice president, president of Owned Brands at Target.
The fiber integrity tech promotes “accountability throughout the global textile supply chain and increases the value of digital-only traceability solutions,” per the company.
FibreTrace’s tech works by adding its patent luminescent pigments into raw cotton when ginning. Upon scanning a pigment, it can be tracked throughout the supply chain, identified and verified on-site. The data uploads to Blockchain which can be shared on the FibreTrace platform, or another platform of the brand’s choosing.
“We hope that this partnership will inspire a ripple effect of change, demonstrating to other companies what is possible,” Danielle Statham, founder and managing director of FibreTrace said in a statement.
As companies continue to broaden their sourcing, opting for more sustainable options is an emerging trend. In February, Lululemon and environmental tech company Samsara Eco achieved a “milestone” in textile recycling. The two introduced an enzymatically recycled nylon 6,6 product and made samples of its Swiftly Tech Long-Sleeve Top with the sustainable textile in May 2023 to scale circular efforts through textile-to-textile recycling.
Also early this year, Under Armour and chemical and materials company Celanese created a spandex alternative. Dubbed “Neolast,” it performs like elastane, the fiber that gives stretch. Neolast is produced with recyclable elastoester polymers.