Cotton Made in Africa (CMiA) - Fashion Company Profile
Cotton Made in Africa (CMiA) is the Aid by Trade Foundation's standard for sustainably produced African cotton, launched in 2005 to improve the living conditions of smallholder cotton farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa through trade rather than aid. It is still operating and growing: by 2025 it worked with around 800,000 smallholder farmers in ten growing countries, and hundreds of spinning mills, producers and brands now use its traceability system.
Company Snapshot
- Status
- Operating - an initiative and sustainability standard of the Aid by Trade Foundation; by 2025 it worked with around 800,000 smallholder farmers in ten African countries
- Type
- Non-profit foundation initiative - textile companies license the CMiA seal
- Headquarters
- Hamburg, Germany (Aid by Trade Foundation)
- Founded
- 2005, by the Aid by Trade Foundation, founded by Michael Otto
Company Profile
How the standard works has not changed in outline: farmers are trained in efficient, environmentally friendlier cultivation, and textile companies pay a licence fee to use the seal, with the proceeds reinvested in the project regions. The partnership model behind the seal and the two chain-of-custody systems - Hard Identity Preserved and Mass Balance - are explained in the profile below and in full on the history page.
The scale figures explain why cotton was the lever chosen. Sub-Saharan Africa is the fifth largest cotton exporter worldwide; cotton there is grown by about 3.4 million smallholder farmers, and a total of more than 20 million people in the region are directly or indirectly living from cotton - which makes cotton a key factor in fighting poverty and a major contribution to food security in many countries of the region. Against that scale, historical descriptions list the farmers' obstacles plainly: fluctuating world market prices, low productivity and poor infrastructure have kept smallholders from fully using that potential to improve their economic living conditions. The initiative set itself its goal in 2005, and the sections below follow its structure - the partnership model behind it, and the two chain-of-custody systems that carry its cotton into finished products. Readers should verify the seal's current criteria and partner list with the initiative itself, via the official site in the References, before making any sourcing or labelling decision.
Cotton Made in Africa (CMiA) History
The earlier record for this company - its history, past brand line-ups, figures and photographs from the periods described - is kept on a separate page for historical reference.
Cotton Made in Africa (CMiA) History & Historical Profile →Common Questions
What is Cotton Made in Africa?
An initiative of the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) that works, since 2005, to improve the social, economic and ecological living conditions of smallholder cotton farmers and their families in Sub-Saharan Africa, through agricultural training and a licensing-fee seal used by an alliance of textile companies, in the historical record.
How is CMiA funded?
Textile companies purchase the Cotton Made in Africa raw material and pay a licensing fee to use the seal; the proceeds, following the workings of a social business, are reinvested in the project regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, in the historical record.
What is the difference between HIP and Mass Balance?
Hard Identity Preserved and Mass Balance are CMiA's two chain-of-custody variants. Both guarantee full traceability from cultivation to the cotton gin through to the spinning mill; after those phases the degree of transparency differs, in the historical record's account of the Chain of Custody Guidelines.
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