Balancing Commerce and Conservation: How TMD’s Partner, Neutral, is protecting the Bengal Tiger Through Its Ethical Cotton Programme

To protect the biodiversity, people and planet, Neutral has launched its Tiger Cotton® Programme. The initiative is focused on transitioning conventional cotton farming to organic, creating high-quality label-free ethical wear made by 100% organic in conversion cotton and certified EU Ecolabel, SA8000, GOTS and Oeko-Tex.

 

What has cotton got to do with Tigers?

 

The first Tiger Cotton® farmers lived and worked side by side with the great Bengal Tiger in Madhya Pradesh, India. Tiger Cotton® is named after them and the tiger is a symbol of all the biodiversity and wildlife that regenerate when a conventional farmer converts into organic. The initiative started as a pilot project in collaboration with WWF India and has grown into a full-scale product line, converting traditional farmers to organic cotton all over India.

 

 

Above you can see a map of the first Tiger Cotton project. In between the two reserves live tens of thousands of small cotton farmers. When the tiger wanders from one nature reserve to the other the cotton fields function as an important tiger corridor. Without the toxic impact of pesticides used in traditional cotton farming, the tigers and the farm workers can thrive.

 

By creating a healthy corridor, organic farmers are playing a key role in the conservation of the Bengal tiger.  In Madhya Pradesh, Tiger Cotton has already helped 4.000 cotton farmers to become certified organic.

 

TMD actively promotes garments made from Tiger Cotton to its international client base, helping to fund this important work.  We will continue to support as programmes such as this expand into other areas.

 

For more information about TMD’s commitment to being ‘caringly responsible’, visit: TMD1993.com

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