Some 20 million garments made with certified ethical cotton have arrived in Spain in a period of 12 months, between 2022 and 2023, by H&M and Inditex. The clothing of supposedly sustainable origin is associated with “deforestation, land grabbing and violence against traditional communities” in Brazil.
The aforementioned fashion companies defend themselves by arguing that they do not source cotton directly, but rather buy through suppliers with the world's leading sustainability seal, called Better Cotton (BC) H&M is the largest users of the Better Cotton certification, an initiative co-promoted by H &M in 2005 and based in Switzerland. In September, Better Cotton told Earthsight that it would hire an independent auditor to evaluate the risk areas highlighted in the questionnaires that Planeta Futuro sent by email, although it did not provide details in its full responses in the investigation, which publishes its full answers in the next few weeks. The company has sent a letter this week to BC asking for “transparency’ in the certification process following the report.