Close-up of a person holding an open cotton boll into the camera, while a field is blurred in the background.

Sustainability

10 June 2026

Milestone reached: 100% traceable cotton from the initiative

As a trading and tourism company, we source products and services from a large number of suppliers and from different global supply chains. We want to reduce the ecological and social impact of our actions wherever possible. REWE Group has now reached a milestone: we have succeeded in physically tracing 100 percent of the Cotton made in Africa cotton used in our own brands back to its origin

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Apfelplantage der Fa. Krings. Bienenhotel am Apfelfeld, unterstützt durch den NABU.

Sustainability

Sustainability

Sustainability in the REWE Group

We are committed to respecting human rights, improving working conditions and fair trade. We want to protect natural resources and preserve biodiversity along the supply chain. It is important for our customers that we create transparency in the supply chain and guarantee the traceability of our products from production to the shelf.

We have now reached a significant milestone as REWE Group.at the end of 2025, we succeeded in physically tracing 100 percent of the Cotton made in Africa cotton used in our own brands back to its origin. REWE Group has supported the Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) initiative of the Aid by Trade Foundation since 2008 – and is thus consistently committed to the principle of “helping people to help themselves”. The aim of the initiative is to improve the standard of living of African smallholder farmers in the long term and at the same time protect natural resources.

The way to the goal

The milestone is the result of consistent further development.in 2019, the proportion of sustainably certified cotton in own brands was already 85%.since 2022, 100 % of the own-brand textiles used have come from sustainably certified sources. 

With the goal now achieved, REWE Group is taking a decisive step further with CmiA: 100 Percent physical traceability via the Hard Identity Preserved (HIP) system – from the cotton bale to the finished textile. 

Two people work in a tree nursery between numerous seedlings in planting bags in an open field.

Strengthening smallholder farmers through sustainable agriculture

The transition from pure certification to full physical traceability is a logical next step for us on the way to more sustainable supply chains in the textile sector. In doing so, we are taking responsibility beyond individual standards and creating transparency along the entire value chain, says Torsten Stau, Managing Director Non Food / Indirect Spend.  

This progress was made possible by the conversion of Mass–Balance–Models* to physically separate flows of goods, long-standing partnerships with the Aid by Trade Foundation and suppliers, as well as the targeted expansion of data– and verification systems along the supply chain. 

Cotton made in Africa: transparency with an impact

The Cotton made in Africa Initiative (CmiA) was founded in 2005 under the umbrella of the Hamburg-based Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) and is now one of the internationally recognized standards for sustainably verified cotton from Africa. 

The organization pursues a clear approach: trade instead of donations.through fair market mechanisms and local training, agricultural methods are improved, yields increased and the environmental footprint reduced – without making small farmers dependent. 

The physical traceability of cotton – from the bale to the yarn to the finished textile – is a crucial tool for credible Sustainability in global supply chains, explains Tina Stridde, Managing Director of the Aid by Trade Foundation.  

Clear message

Achieving 100 Percent HIP traceability underlines REWE Group’s claim to permanently anchor transparency and responsibility in its textile supply chains. rn 

*Mass–Balance–Models, sustainably certified cotton may be mixed with non-–-certified cotton. With the Hard Identity Preserved System (HIP), the exact opposite happens. The cotton is kept separate along the entire supply chain. Every step is therefore physically traceable and documented.

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