Non-profit organization Supima said that it partnered with forensic firm Oritain Global Ltd. to deliver a platform that will identify and verify the origins of Supima cotton.
Oritain’s traceability technology can measure the naturally occurring elements within cotton fiber that are unique to the area the cotton is grown in, creating a “fingerprint” for Supima cotton, the company said. The project will extend through the American Pima cotton growing region.
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Grant Cochrane, the chief executive officer of Oritain, said that “The unique fingerprint analysis identifies different levels of chemical attributes that are found in the product itself and enables the cotton to be verified against its claimed origin. This platform offers a solution to address the traceability challenges that have been faced by the global cotton industry in recent years.”
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Cochrane continued, “Manufacturers, brand owners and retailers are increasingly focused on ensuring there is transparency within their supply chains. A huge part of this is knowing — and trusting — where their product comes from. This is of particular importance as brands make claims associated with provenance and want to be reassured their product — in this case, Supima cotton — isn’t being contaminated by inferior products coming from undesirable sources.”
In the textiles sector the subject of traceability and transparency, as well as sustainability, has significantly grown in importance throughout the supply chain. “We are pleased to be able to demonstrate our relevance throughout the supply chain — not just for primary producers,” he says. “We know that the fashion industry is highly-motivated in the sustainability space and we are ideally positioned to help them ensure the integrity of their products as sustainability compliance is closely intertwined with origin.”
And Supima’s chief executive officer Marc Lewkowitz said that the partnership “fulfils Supima’s decade long objective to find a simple and natural way to use the fiber to verify provenance. We were impressed that Oritain doesn’t need to apply any identifier or tracer during the manufacturing or processing phases, which makes it a very simple solution to deploy from an operational perspective. The Oritain methodology simply measures what is naturally inside the fiber.”
Lewkowitz added, “American Pima cotton growers take great pride in their status of producing a rare and premium fiber often referred to as the ‘World’s Finest Cottons’, and Supima is proud to provide a means to ensure that the SUPIMA® brand and fiber reputation are protected.”
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