The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol seeks to give brands and retailers a quantifiable and verifiable window to view the process and improvements of the cotton industry. The protocol is being implemented in partnership with The Cotton Research and Promotion Program, the National Cotton Council, USDA, state universities and private industry.

That is done with the help of Field to Market, which uses verifiable data to show how well U.S. cotton sustainability is advancing. Current numbers include an overall 30 percent increase in soil carbon, 13 percent increase in land use efficiency, 39 percent in greenhouse gas efficiency, 50 percent decrease in soil loss per acre, 18 percent decrease in water use and a 15 percent decrease in energy use.