Nativa Extends Offering to Regenerative Cotton
Nativa is taking its wool-centric regenerative agriculture program to the industry’s favorite fiber: cotton.
“As a commitment to having a positive environmental impact, this new fiber comes as an extension of our brand mission,” Martin Donagaray, business development director, told Sourcing Journal. “Nativa has always had the intention of expanding its regenerative farming methods into other fibers.”
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In September 2022, the regeneratively-farmed luxury fiber producer announced the U.S. launch of the Nativa Regenerative Agriculture Program (Nativa Regen) in partnership with Shaniko Wool Company.
The allegedly first regenerative wool program in the States was designed to improve soil and water quality as well as protect biodiversity while helping brands reduce their carbon footprints and reach their respective sustainability targets, not to mention supporting the participating farmers and their communities in the process.
Now, in an attempt to further “amplify its positive impact,” Nativa is adding cotton into the mix.
“As part of Nativa’s goals of positively impacting the supply chain for a more sustainable system, we wanted to expand our reach from wool into new fibers,” Maria Estrada, Nativa’s global director, said. “With cotton playing such a significant role in the fashion industry, it was only natural to extend our program to this iconic fiber.”
The Chargeurs-owned brand’s cotton is a “one-stop solution” that certifies the cotton growing, sourcing and production under Nativa Regen, a “robust system” with those three impact points based on scientific research and validated by data.
“Nativa is committed to transparency and integrity with a certification process conducted by independent groups,” Donagaray said, “which independently visit farms and industry partners for approval.”
Through the program and over the next five years, Nativa aims to achieve a 20 percent increase of organic materials—natural nutrients—in the soil through regenerative agricultural practices. This is dovetailed by a 25 percent reduction in pesticides, with the eventual goal of zero pesticides, and the “effective eradication” of tillage.
“Excessive tillage—the preparation of land for growing crops—disrupts the soil’s structure, speeding up erosion and the surface runoff of nutrients into waterways,” Donagaray explained. “It can also release more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.”
Nativa Regenerative Cotton’s founding partner is the Greece-based cotton ginning company, Nafpaktos Textile Industry SA. This means that every step—from growing and cultivation to fiber processing and yarn marking—occurs in Greece, ensuing a farm-to-fiber cycle complicit with EU labor standards and environmental conservation rights.
“EU standards are aligned with Nativa’s values, which makes a great starting point to align our objectives and implement our Regenerative Agriculture program,” Donagaray said, explaining that some of its luxury brand partners requested an entirely EU-based cotton product. “Nafpaktos uses renewable energy sources to produce the finest quality cotton and lead the European cotton cultivation sector with the best farming practices and sustainability systems.”
The first crop of Nativa’s cotton will be planted in the upcoming sowing season to be harvested between October and November. And all that cotton incorporates the Parisian manufacturer’s blockchain technology, which records “transactions in a digital tamper-proof and decentralized database,” Donagaray said.
“The information is distributed across a network of computers or nodes, is accessible to anyone in the network, and cannot be altered or deleted,” Donagaray continued, adding that any “node” can add information, which must be approved and recorded by all the nodes of the network and organized as “blocks.”
