AGRICULTURAL NEWS - What’s the difference between the Southern African Sustainable Textile and Apparel Cluster (SASTAC) and the Sustainable Cotton Cluster?
On 1 April 2014, the Department of Trade and Industry [DTI] officially launched a five-year plan to establish a national textile cluster, SASTAC, supported by a R200-million grant fund. Its aim was to improve capacity and competitiveness and to create jobs in the cotton, textile and apparel industry value chains.
The cotton industry formed the Sustainable Cotton Cluster (SCC) in May 2014 to serve the cotton-specific interventions. It’s made great progress, and there’s now a big drive to get the other fibres on board.
The SCC brings together the entire cotton supply chain under one umbrella: farmers, ginneries, yarn manufacturers, dyers, finishing plants, weavers, retailers and consumers.
The stakeholders are working together to improve the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the cotton industry.
