The White Cotton Project, which is the backbone of Bergman Rivera, began in 1986 when we started working with a small group of experimental farmers with different cotton varieties and growing methods, in order to find other alternatives to conventional cotton farming. Many years later, The White Cotton Project became a reality and nowadays we work with more than 90 farmers in Southern and Northern Peru. Our future plans include expanding the farming area with rotation crops like organic maize, which feeds poultry and cattle.

This project is managed by Ecotton, one of our partners. Ecotton oversees 413 hectares of certified land in the Chincha and Lambayeque valleys,producing Tanguis and Pima cotton.

The Wild Cotton project started in 1994 when the Peruvian Government decided to promote alternative crops to replace coca leaf plantations in the rainforest. The naturally colored cotton that has grown in the wild around this area for centuries attracted our attention. After working on certifying a small group of farmers, we started to promote this cotton variety among our clients around the world, getting excellent response and managing to preserve this particular type of cotton, which was about to be extinct. We are still working in color grown cotton conservation in a partnership with INIA (Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria) in Tarapoto. Nowadays, we continue to work with 71 farmers and their families. Bergman Rivera has successfully established a market for this variety of cotton in Japan and Europe. In addition, in order to increase the farmers´ income we have helped them sell other rotation crops such as Organic Sacha Inchi and Organic Cacao.

During 2010, Panoco Trading of Japan, Rotary Club of Sweden and Bergman Rivera built a computer room in the Shanao community. The purpose of this project is to provide the farmers with more opportunities and allow our clients to be directly involved in projects that have a direct impact on the development of these communities.

“Working with Bergman Rivera has helped us to organize and accomplish the requirement and delivery dates requested by our clients, complying with the G.O.T.S certification has been the perfect tool to let the world know about our capabilities”. Alfredo Guerreros – Inversiones Textiles Trebol.

We help little CMT units to improve their processes, develop quality control procedures and keep sustainability in their practices to achieve our client’s requirements; so, they can showcase their workmanship at an international level.

Today, we work with 3 workshops certified under G.O.T.S.

The GOTS Certification process includes all the stages that involve the transformation of raw materials starting from production, packaging, labeling, export, import and distribution. This standard is the most demanding and updated on the latest sustainable textile trends in environmental practices and fair trade, and controls the use of eco-friendly inputs that do not jeopardize the workers and final consumer.

It is the final consumer responsibility to request this certificate and the producer´s duty to process this document with the certifier agency.

The Department of agriculture of the United States of America- National Organic Program (NOP) develops implements and administrates the national production standards, handling and labeling of Organic agricultural products. NOP standard also confirms the certifier bodies (international and local) that are in charge of conducting audits of productions and operations that comply with this standard.

The Department of Agriculture of the United States (NOP) certifies that our organic Cotton fulfills the USDA standard requirements, persevering biodiversity, not using genetically modified seeds, synthetic pesticides or chemical fertilizers.

Fair Trade Enterprises prioritize people and the planet. This means they pioneer solutions to important issues like overuse of natural resources, women’s empowerment, human rights, inequality and sustainable farming.

Fair Trade certified organizations support organic agriculture, generate new models of social enterprise and create new ways to champion the dignity of workers, farmers, artisans and communities around the world.

Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability.

The B Corp community works toward reduced inequality, lower levels of poverty, a healthier environment, stronger communities, and the creation of more high-quality jobs with dignity and purpose.