Timeless luxury brand Ralph Lauren joins US Cotton Trust Protocol

In an effort to scale up sustainable techniques in US cotton production, Ralph Lauren has joined the US Cotton Trust Protocol. To ensure that the business has a long-lasting, positive impact on the planet and the communities it serves across three pillars: Create with Intent, Protect the Environment, and Champion Better Lives, the move supports Ralph Lauren’s “Timeless by Design” global citizenship and sustainability strategy.

Ralph Lauren pledges to make improvements in six important sustainability areas by joining the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol: land usage, soil carbon, water management, soil loss, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy efficiency. By integrating key sustainability measures from Field to Market’s Fieldprint Platform, the Trust Protocol enables registered producers to assess the environmental effects of their business and find possibilities for ongoing improvement.

Since more than 75 percent of Ralph Lauren’s total material consumption is made up of cotton, the company says it is already committed to enhancing soil health through initiatives that support regenerative farming methods and meticulous impact assessment because it believes that these measures “are fundamental to building a resilient cotton industry in the US and globally.”

Katie Ioanilli, chief global impact and communications officer at Ralph Lauren, said that cotton makes up more than three-quarters of their total material use, and they are dedicated to ensuring that this important fiber is 100% sustainably sourced in their portfolio by 2025.

Ioanilli added that as they work together to advance the aims of sustainable cotton – inside their company and the winder industry, their ambition necessitates collaboration and partnership with organizations like the Trust Protocol.

Dr Gary Adams, president of the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, added that Ralph Lauren’s Timeless by Design strategy emphasizes the value of respecting the environment and using science-based techniques that help safeguard natural resources, both of which are important tenets of the Trust Protocol. The initiative was created to promote the shift to more sustainable and responsible approaches, so enabling improvements in soil health and better management of natural resources.

The Trust Protocol is supported by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Cotton 2025 Sustainable Cotton Challenge, Cotton 2040 and Cotton Up programs, and it is in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It is also acknowledged by Textile Exchange and Forum for the Future. Through the USDA Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities pilot projects, funding has recently been granted for it to develop markets for climate-smart cotton and offer financial and technical support to more than 1,000 US cotton farmers to advance the adoption of climate-smart practices on more than one million acres. The Soil Health Institute, which the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation sponsors through the U.S. Regenerative Cotton Fund, is a part of the multi-stakeholder effort.