Advance Denim and Avalo strike multi-year cotton deal

Advance Denim has entered a multi-year supply partnership with Avalo to use low-footprint cotton in denim production across China, Vietnam and Cambodia. The deal ties together water-saving cotton breeding and water-reduction in dyeing as brands face more pressure to cut supply-chain emissions and improve traceability.

Why it matters: - The partnership links two parts of denim’s water footprint: cotton farming and indigo dyeing. - Advance Denim gains access to a lower-input cotton supply as brands look for more credible Scope 3 reductions. - The agreement is aimed at some of the world’s largest retailers, which raises the potential scale of the impact.

What happened: - Advance Denim entered a multi-year supply partnership with Avalo, an AI-powered agricultural technology company. - Advance Denim will serve as Avalo’s Founding Mill Partner for the denim market across China, Vietnam and Cambodia. - The partnership gives Advance Denim exclusive access to Avalo cotton as Avalo scales. - The announcement was made July 20, 2026.

The details: - Advance Denim is the oldest denim mill in China and has spent nearly four decades pushing manufacturing innovation. - The mill’s BigBox Dyeing process reduces the water required for indigo dyeing by up to 95%. - Avalo uses AI-powered genomic selection and computational breeding to develop non-GMO cotton varieties. - Avalo says its cotton can be grown with zero irrigation, 75% less fertilizer and 47% lower greenhouse gas emissions than conventional cotton. - Avalo said a recent third-party life cycle assessment verified those results. - All Avalo cotton in the partnership is under the US Cotton Trust Protocol regenerative program and traceable through Textile Genesis. - Advance Denim said the deal reflects its view that performance and sustainability are complementary. - Avalo said the partnership signals to the industry that a mill serving global retailers is making low-footprint cotton a strategic input. - The companies said the cotton will be spun, woven and finished by Advance Denim for denim programs sold to major fashion retailers.

Between the lines: - The deal moves sustainability upstream, from factory processes to the genetics of the cotton plant itself. - Avalo’s pitch is that emissions cuts can come from breeding and agronomy rather than offsets or certifications alone. - Advance Denim’s participation gives the cotton a potential path into large-scale commercial denim programs, which could matter more than a standalone fiber launch.

What’s next: - Avalo will scale its cotton supply through the multi-year agreement. - Advance Denim will integrate the cotton into denim production for brands in its regional supply chain. - The companies are positioning the partnership as a model for more traceable, lower-footprint denim sourcing.

The bottom line: - The deal pairs lower-water cotton with lower-water dyeing, aiming to reduce denim’s environmental footprint from field to finished garment. - More information is available in Avalo’s cotton overview and Advance Denim’s company site.