This month Cotton Australia’s Brand Relationships Manager, Ashley Hollis, joined industry leaders at the Global Sourcing Expo Australia to tackle one of fashion’s biggest challenges: supply chain traceability.
The panel, “Towards Supply Chain Traceability – Responding to Global Legislation and Due Diligence Requirements,” discussed how fast-evolving global regulations are pushing brands to improve transparency, verification and ethical accountability across their supply chains. Ashley, alongside Vinay Kumar - Better Cotton Initiative, and Rick Lambell - Beyond Sustainable Retail Group, explored how the industry is adapting and what truly effective traceability looks like.
Ashley reinforced that traceability shouldn’t be seen only as a compliance requirement - it’s a powerful storytelling tool. With consumers increasingly wanting to understand where products come from, brands with verified fibre origins have a clear competitive edge. Traceability delivers certainty and credibility, but it’s the human stories behind the data that create emotional connection with consumers.
Ashley highlighted the strength of Australian cotton; an industry closely connected to its farming communities. By bringing growers and brands closer together through authentic storytelling, traceability becomes more than proof, it becomes purpose.
“Traceability gives us proof, and storytelling gives us purpose.”
November 2025