Retail group’s cotton claims supported by Haelixa
Traceability technology provider Haelixa has renewed an existing partnership with Italian clothing retail group OVS. Their partnership centres on marking and tracing cotton grown in Italy, with a view to offering “trust throughout the supply chain”.
At one time, cotton production was fairly common in the south of Italy, but farmers moved to other crops in the 1960s when clothing manufacturers began using high volumes of synthetic fibres, with imports satisfying demand for cotton.
With interest in extending the concept of 100% made in Italy to raw materials, cotton production has begun again on farms in Puglia and Sicily.
For two years running now, Haelixa has integrated its DNA markers into a proportion of the Italian-grown cotton, applying them at a gin close to one of the farms. The fibres are tested throughout the manufacturing process, allowing OVS to state with certainty that the clothing in its special collections uses cotton from these local sources.
Haelixa chief executive, Patrick Strumpf, said this DNA marking is increasing brand trust and supporting OVS’s sustainable product claims.
The clothing retail group’s head of corporate sustainability, Simone Colombo, said: “Our goal is to approach 5% of our cotton requirements from cultivation in Italy within a few years.”
