Australian retailer Big W has become the first Australian retail brand to join Oritain’s global membership program in a bid to ramp up cotton traceability.
This expands Big W’s three-year partnership with the global verification platform and the retailer’s promise to source and sell sustainable and responsible cotton across its national footprint.
This also adds to the retailer’s 2022 Sustainable Cotton Policy, which aims to ensure that all of its sourced cotton is compliant with national and local labour laws and guaranteed to be free from all forms of child or forced labour.
Big W is managed under Woolworths Group, with the group’s latest Modern Slavery Statement for FY25 indicating that there are 35 approved suppliers of Big W cotton products.
Cotton is used across the group, particularly in Big W clothing and home products, with the company adding that it is actively working to address risk through a focus on cotton traceability and the identification of labour abuses in the cotton supply chain.
Big W utilises the vast majority of the group’s cotton consumption, and accordingly leads the development and implementation of the group’s tools to mitigate modern slavery risks.
In order to validate the source of cotton in its supply chain, Big W focuses on organic, recycled and Australian cotton, and has established procedures for verifying the origin of raw materials. Woolworths Group added in the statement that this includes a desktop traceability system supported by Cotton Australia, and a fibre testing program delivered in partnership with Oritain.
“In F25, Big W conducted 79 Australian cotton origin tests, achieving a 97 per cent positive verification result. The product that did not meet the verification standard was not labelled as Australian cotton,” the Statement read.
“Also in F25, following a successful pilot, we identified an opportunity to convert conventional cotton items to Better Cotton Initiative (BCI)’s physical traceable cotton through its traceability model. In F26, we plan to introduce BCI cotton into our supply chain.”
Andrew Whale, Big W’s sustainability delivery lead, said responsible sourcing is fundamental to how the retailer operates.
“As the first Australian retailer to join as a Gold Member [via Oritain], we are proud to lead the way in science-based origin verification,” Whale said.
“This partnership strengthens our ability to independently verify the origin of our cotton, providing customers with greater assurance that our sourcing claims are credible and transparent, and setting a new benchmark for Australian retail.”
Oritain uses forensic analysis to verify the origin of cotton against a unique ‘Origin Fingerprint’. An Oritain membership connects organisations with a global community of responsible buyers and suppliers who are committed to improving supply chain transparency.
Country Road Group is another Australian fashion entity that has used Oritain.
“Big W’s investment in independent, forensic origin verification reflects the leadership we see from organisations driving meaningful change in global supply chains,” Oritain chief customer officer Gemma Lynch said. “Their Gold Membership signals a strong intent to build trust, transparency, and accountability across their sourcing practices.”
Big W manages 179 stores across Australia. The retailer receives own-brand products from 461 sites globally, with around 92 per cent of these located in China, Bangladesh and China.