FEM Indonesia – Cotton Council International (CCI) hosted the COTTON USA™ Sustainability Forum 2025 on April 24 at the Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City Hotel, bringing together 218 attendees representing key players across the global textile and apparel supply chain. 

With the theme “A Way Forward – Circularity, “the forum spotlighted the critical role of U.S. cotton in building a more sustainable, regenerative, and circular future for the industry. As sustainability and circularity take center stage in global textile conversations, the forum provided a timely space to tackle pressing challenges particularly in textile recycling.

With the EU’s Waste Framework Directive requiring member states to implement separate collection systems for used textiles by 2025, industry stakeholders are now confronting hurdles such as fiber quality, sorting infrastructure, and the evolving capacities of both mechanical and chemical recycling technologies.

Mechanical recycling often struggles with short fiber lengths and inconsistent material history, making it difficult to achieve high-quality outputs, while chemical recycling is still progressing in terms of scalability and cost-efficiency. Despite these challenges, the sector is seeing promising opportunities through innovation and collaboration across the value chain.

A major highlight of the forum was the unveiling of CCI’s CIRCULARITY Study, conducted between 2023 and 2024. The study tested yarns made with 20% post-consumer and 30% pre-consumer recycled content, blended with cotton from different origins. U.S. cotton consistently outperformed other blends, demonstrating superior yarn strength, lower fiber hairiness, and excellent fabric quality even when mixed with recycled fibers.

These findings strongly align with the European Union’s Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, which calls for long-lasting, repairable, and recyclable textile products. With its durability, traceability, and consistent quality, U.S. cotton proves to be a powerful enabler for brands striving to meet global circularity goals without compromising on performance.

The forum also featured 16 booths showcasing innovative cotton-based products from leading Indonesian and international manufacturers. Exhibitors included Dan Liris Group, PT Embee Plumbon Tekstil, PT Pan Brothers Tbk, Aditya Birla Yarn, PT Argo Manunggal Triasta, Duniatex Group, PT Lucky Print Abadi, PT Benang Citra Indonesia, PT Sekar Bengawan, and PT. TriputraSandang Utama, among others. Their displays highlighted the diverse applications of cotton in advancing circular product life cycles, reinforcing the versatility and relevance of U.S. cotton in today’s sustainability-driven market.

With a strong turnout and a vibrant mix of industry leaders, sourcing offices, mills, brands, and sustainability experts, the COTTON USA Sustainability Forum 2025 reaffirmed its position as a key platform for collaboration, insight-sharing, and forward momentum toward a more circular and responsible textile ecosystem.

ABOUT COTTON COUNCIL INTERNATIONAL (CCI)

Cotton Council International (CCI) is a non-profit trade association that promotes U.S. cotton fiber and manufactured cotton products around the globe with our COTTON USA™ trademark. Our reach extends to more than 50 countries through 20 offices around the world. With more than 65 years of experience, CCI’s mission is to make U.S. cotton the preferred fiber for mills/manufacturers, brands/retailers and consumers, commanding a value-added premium that delivers profitability across the U.S. cotton industry and drives export growth of fiber, yarn and other cotton products. For more information, visit cottonusa.org