AbTF celebrates 2025 successes
Hamburg-based non-profit organisation the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF), which administers the Cotton made in Africa standard, generated revenues of €7.8 million in 2025. This included €6.7 million that it collected through the successful marketing of Cotton made in Africa and other standards it runs.
These include Cotton made in Africa Organic, which the organisation says combines the ecological advantages of organic cotton cultivation with targeted social and economic support.
AbTF said it had invested this income in projects that aim to protect biodiversity, support women, increase transparency in the textile supply chain and implement its verification system.
It said that, since 2005, Cotton made in Africa had become “a leading standard for sustainable cotton”. In 2025, around 715,000 small-scale farmers in ten African countries cultivated cotton in accordance with the Cotton made in Africa or Cotton made in Africa Organic standards.
As a result, 36.4% of all cotton produced in Africa is now verified under these two standards.
Some 43,000 smallholders in four African countries now benefit from Cotton made in Africa Organic, which is 32% more than in the previous year.
Another of the standards is the Regenerative Cotton Standard, which was introduced in 2023 to promote soil health and biodiversity. It has been successfully expanded in India and Tanzania.
In Tanzania, the number of participating farmers applying the Regenerative Cotton Standard criteria rose by almost 90% in 2025, reaching a total of around 36,600.
