But its bid to rapidly grow its use of organic cotton while keeping its carbon footprint small is not without its challenges. Stuart Rothgiesser investigates how the retailer is stimulating local organic cotton farming.

Woolworths – well set on its much-publicized Good Business Journey – is the world’s third largest consumer of organic cotton behind Nike and Wal- Mart, taking over from other large ‘green’ clothing manufacturers such as Patagonia and Mountain Equipment Co-op. And introduced in 2004, the use of organic cotton is set to grow phenomenally, with the retail giant setting a target to increase sales of organic cotton clothing to R1 billion by 2012.