Hugo Boss Foundation invests in Indian cotton fibre project

Business

Hugo Boss showroom located in Wolkenbogen, Düsseldorf. Credits: Hugo Boss

The Hugo Boss Foundation has signed a partnership with the Grameena Vikas Kendram Society of Rural Development (GVK Society), an Indian grass-roots non-profit organisation with the mission to build regenerative, circular and socially inclusive agricultural value chains that optimise value for smallholder farmers and indigenous communities. This is the second long-term partnership of Hugo Boss Foundation, the statement announced.

The foundation will donate 500,000 euros over three years to support a regenerative food landscape and cotton fibre project in the indigenous villages of the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh in South India. The goal is to transform 5,250 hectares, roughly the size of 3,000 football fields, into regenerative food and cotton landscapes. This initiative should not only deliver social and economic benefits, it should also contribute to mitigating climate change and increasing biodiversity.

“We are delighted to support GVK Society and their holistic approach to regenerative agriculture,” said Daniel Grieder, CEO of Hugo Boss AG and managing director of Hugo Boss Foundation. “By working with them, we are supporting one of the most innovative methods of material sourcing, which is essential for reducing the fashion industry’s environmental footprint and also improving the livelihoods of local farmers. This aligns with our own commitment at Hugo Boss to source 100 percent of natural materials in our collections through regenerative agriculture or closed-loop recycling by 2030.”

Aneel Kumar Ambavaram, chief functionary at GVK Society, added: “At GVK Society, our goal is to transform agriculture into a powerful, nature-based solution that nourishes self-reliant communities living in harmony with each other and the environment. The funding from the Hugo Boss Foundation will enable us to further develop our regenerative model of food and fibre landscape and diversify into crops such as coffee, pepper, millet, turmeric and ginger, with international market connections. This support will help to ensure even healthier and more balanced soils in the long term and strengthen our ability to scale our impact and reach more farmers in more villages.”

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.NL. It was translated to English using an AI tool called Genesis and edited by Rachel Douglass..

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