Better Cotton Council announces new appointments and joins M&S sustainability expert

Sourcing executives from M&S and J Crew Group are among the latest recruits to join the board of the Better Cotton Council (BCC), the world's largest cotton sustainability initiative.

The expansion of the board with five new members, including the appointment of two new co-chairs, means that BCC members now represent “the entire cotton industry and help[s] “Informing Better Cotton’s strategic direction.”

Joining the board are Elodie Gilart, senior sustainability manager at M&S, and Doug Forster, sourcing director at J Crew.

Gilart currently leads M&S’s raw materials and circularity strategy for apparel and home products, while Forster “has been instrumental in rationalising the company’s supplier roadmap and has extensive experience driving sustainability initiatives across a number of apparel brands.”

Gilart said: “Cotton is the core material in our portfolio, so Better Cotton has been a key partner for us since we joined as an early member in 2009. We have since achieved our goal of converting cotton for all garments by 2019 and see this partnership as essential to move to the next level of our strategy, focusing on traceability and accelerating impact at farm level.”

Forster added: “At J Crew Group, our sourcing of Better Cotton is key to our goal of 100% of our cotton being sustainably sourced by 2025. Cotton is our largest volume material, accounting for almost 70% of our fibre footprint, and we are committed to sourcing cotton that benefits both people and the planet.”

The new co-chairs are Bill Ballenden, director of sustainability and innovation at U.S. cotton trader Louis Dreyfus Co., and Tamar Hoek, senior director of sustainable fashion policy at international nonprofit Solidaridad.