Cotton Egypt Association (CEA), the non-profit which supports the Egyptian Cotton brand, has launched an initiative that will work to “actively root out” counterfeiters in the textile industry and will name and shame the manufacturers found to be falsely advertising stock under the brand name.

CEA is committed to ensuring the authenticity of its luxury cotton and to do so wants to eradicate cases of counterfeiting, an issue that is rife in the textiles industry. It will look to clamp down on the wide-scale problem with threats of naming and shaming those firms who fail the rigorous accreditation scheme via a Black List on its website.

“Cotton Egypt Association has been working tirelessly over the last three years with to protect the integrity and authenticity of the brand, to protect its retail partners and to ensure consumers they are buying genuine Egyptian Cotton goods,” Khaled Schuman, executive director of CEA said.

“We will not stand by while unscrupulous manufacturers mix Egyptian Cotton with sub-standard fibres,” he added.

The non-profit plans to use secret shoppers both in-store and online to identify products which purport to use Egyptian Cotton, this will then be handed over to CEA and its partner, testing and verification body Bureau Veritas, which will conduct testing to validate the authenticity of a product.

Those found to be in possession of dubious stock, like a Pakistani towel manufacturer which has recently had its licence suspended off the back of being found out, will be named and shamed as to deter companies from engaging in such practices, it also raises awareness to customers and consumers that a company isn’t to be trusted.

CEA cites a recent consumer survey, the findings to which highlighted that 95 per cent of a sample of people named the Egyptian Cotton brand when asked to identify the brands it most closely associates with the material, as its incentive to put in place these preventative measures.

The process adopted to validate a material’s origin has been endorsed by several academic and professional bodies, the CEA says, and includes extracting DNA from a fibre, yarn, fabric or garment and comparing it with the goods its customers receive. This way the Egyptian Cotton brand upholds a reputation as a credible source of luxury cotton and is in no way at risk of having this tarnished by those looking to make illegal gains.

Courtesy: Cotton Egypt Association