Better Cotton FAQ | About BCP Platform Operations

The Better Cotton Platform (BCP) is an online system exclusively used by Better Cotton and registered supply chain organizations that purchase, sell, or purchase better cotton or products containing cotton under the name of Better Cotton. This platform aims to serve as an online database where supply chain participants can input and monitor quality balance and/or physical transactions of better cotton, which can verify the quantity ofbetter cotton purchased in the supply chain.

Through BCP, suppliers and manufacturers can demonstrate to customers how much better cotton lint has been purchased through product sales, while for physical better cotton, retailers and brands can trace their products back to the country of origin of theraw materials.

Does the cotton contract document not enter the system?

Yes, ginning factories and/or cotton merchants that follow the regulatory chain standards are required to upload cotton sales documents when selling physical better cotton lint to spinning enterprises. But even if all supply chain enterprises agree to data sharing,brands can only see the physical better cotton and lint source countries used by spinning enterprises, rather than specific information about cotton merchants or ginners.

I don't seem to see any proof of origin in the cotton file field used by the spinning factory on the operation demonstration interface?

The spinning enterprise first confirms the physical better cotton and lint procurement transaction. Once confirmed, the physical better cotton lint inventory will be subdivided and classified according to the country of origin of the lint. When spinning enterprises apply for production, they select better cotton lint to input into inventory, and the sourcecountry of physical better cotton lint is automatically recognized and read by the BCP platform.

Does the spinning factory provide yarn sales documents and cotton procurement documents?

The Better Cotton Chain of Custody Standard does not mention the need to upload and purchase related documents. The spinning factory needs to upload yarn sales documents. The BCP system automatically reads the source country of the better cotton lint used in this batch of yarn when it selects the better cotton lint inventory for input.

When confirming receipt of fabric, there is a requirement to fill in the delivery date. Is this the actual delivery date? How to fill in if there are actually multiple delivery dates?

When receiving the goods, the delivery date here is the date when the goods arrive at the buyer's factory for storage. If a BCP transaction corresponds to multiple delivery dates, it is required to fill in the final delivery date, which is the date when all goods are received.

Do garment manufacturers need to fill in the production section after confirming receipt of the fabric? It was not necessary to fill it out before.

There is no need to declare production for inventory orders. Under orders for physicallybetter cotton, production-oriented enterprises such as garment manufacturers need to declare production. Garment manufacturers can only transfer finished products to customers after completing production declaration, which makes it easier to sell finished products. After selecting finished product inventory, they can directly fill in the number of sold finished products.

Do general traders not need to produce this step? Directly transfer out the fabric upon receiving the yarn?

If the general trader is paying for yarn and selling fabrics, it indicates that there must beproduction outsourcing involved and production needs to be declared on the BCP platform. The information required for production declaration needs to be provided by the subcontractor responsible for fabric production, and the general trader should declare it on the BCP platform.

Should the composition of purified fiber fabrics be declared for clothing factories?

Pure fiber fabrics need to be declared.

In the previous operation, customers can transfer to BCCUs before shipping. Can this still be done after upgrading?

If it is a physical better cotton order after upgrading, it is not allowed. On the one hand,for sales declaration, the delivery date needs to be filled in, and the delivery date cannot be a future date. On the other hand, the file information uploaded in BCP will match the input information.

When selling fabrics, the option to upload the contract file was selected. Do you also need to upload files in other stages, such as when selling ready to wear?

As long as it is for traceable orders, files need to be uploaded when entering sales.

When a brand places an order with a clothing factory, the contract is signed with the factory. BCCUs transfer it to the brand merchant, and who does it need to upload the contract with?

Using BCCUs indicates that the inventory balance mode is followed, and transactions with inventory balance do not require uploading documents; Better physical cotton requires uploading transactions, and better cotton requires uploading documents to customers.

Can confidential information such as prices be hidden from uploaded document files for traceable better cotton orders?

Confidential information such as prices can be hidden from uploaded files and documents. The main purpose of uploading files is to verify that transactions on the BCP platform correspond to real orders for cotton containing products, and as a way to trace products, price information can be hidden.

Can the downloaded "BCP transaction records" on the upgraded BCP platform identify the country of origin? Can't verified country of origin of cotton watermark displayed in inventory balance mode

The "Purchase, Sales, Inventory BCP Transaction Records" and "Physical BCP Transaction Records" downloaded from the upgraded BCP platform both carry watermarks that cannot be used to prove country of origin information. From the perspective of better cotton, these transaction records cannot be used as regulatory documents.