DURHAM, NC – 28 October 2026 – Avalo, the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol (USCTP) and TextileGenesis have announced the release of The New Rules of Cotton: Considerations for building resilience into textile supply chains amidst near-term climate trends. The report is a free playbook for brands, mills and sourcing teams seeking to protect their cotton supply against climate and supply-chain risks.
The report grew out of a roundtable during New York Climate Week, convened by Dana Davis Consulting at the Explorers Club. The organisers brought together 35 sourcing, materials, product and sustainability leaders from outdoor, luxury, home goods, mass-market and boutique brands, alongside supply-chain executives.
Their discussion covered near-term sourcing concerns, the difficulty of tracing bales beyond the spinner, premiums that fail to reach farmers, and the effects of climate pressures. The release cites rising input costs and a decline in the number of U.S. cotton farmers from about 16,000 in 2021 to 14,000 in 2024.
Avalo synthesised the conversation into 11 “new rules”. The report was sponsored by Avalo, the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, TextileGenesis and Dana Davis Consulting. Its recommendations include:
- Build risk directly into costing models, rather than treating cotton as a price-stable line item.
- Treat data as supply infrastructure, with traceability tied to every purchase order.
- Redistribute risk across the supply chain through pre-season and multiseason agreements.
- Seek and incentivise increasingly regenerative cultivation, from regenerative practices to USRegen and Regenerative Organic Certified.
While the roundtable focused on U.S. markets and farmers, the authors say the strategies can be considered by any procurement team.
“Fashion is an agricultural business, whether it thinks of itself that way or not,” said Tricia Carey, Chief Commercial Officer at Avalo. “The leaders in that room weren’t waiting for permission. They were already looking for ways to share risk with growers, invest in resilience and make cotton work for the next decade, not just the next season. This report is our attempt to put their best thinking in one place.”
“Growers are carrying more of the climate risk every year,” said Liz Hershfield, Co-Executive Director at the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol. “When brands commit earlier, pay for outcomes and support the transition to more resilient practices, they strengthen the farms they depend on.”
“You can’t manage what you can’t see,” said Dinelle Salvador, Business Development Manager at TextileGenesis. “Traceability used to be about telling a better consumer story. Now it’s how sourcing teams see disruptions coming and prove where their fiber comes from.”
The authors say The New Rules of Cotton will be available free at avalo.ai/for-partners. They describe it as a living playbook and invite brands and suppliers to pilot a rule, share what has and has not worked, or join the next roundtable by contacting Dana Davis at dana@danadavisconsulting.com.
About Avalo
Avalo is an agricultural biotechnology company using AI-powered genomic selection to develop climate-resilient crop varieties. The company says its cotton is grown in the Texas High Plains without irrigation and with less fertiliser, and reports reductions in water use, fertiliser application and carbon emissions compared with conventional cotton. Learn more at avalo.ai/cotton.
About the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol
The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol sets a standard for more sustainably grown U.S. cotton and provides brands and retailers with farm-level data on its environmental performance. Learn more at trustuscotton.org.
About TextileGenesis
TextileGenesis, a Lectra company, provides a traceability platform to help fashion and textile brands track fibre from origin to finished product. Learn more at textilegenesis.com.
