Yaya Arouna and the white gold of Africa

Ulrike Okbay-Reichert, head of sourcing at OTTO, had no idea what a beetle countcard was until she was shown this laminated little piece of progress in Burkina Faso. It shows lots of little beetles - good beetles and bad beetles.

Next to the pictures of the insects thy contain a number of colourful dots – each one stands for a beetle that was found on a particular part of a cotton plant. It is a simple yet effective tool for facilitating environmentally friendly cotton cultivation: even farmers who cannot read or write can tell at a glance whether their harvest of ‘white gold’ at risk from pests. When the number of dots next to the bad beetles reaches a certain level, it’s time to take action.

Yaya Arouna, 40, is one of 237,000 small farmers who work with the 'Cotton made in Africa' initiative. He grows two of the 257,000 tonnes of raw cotton produced annually that meet the 'Cotton made in Africa' criteria, on two of the 317,000 hectares of land farmed by the small farmers in the initiative. This involves hard physical work that wears on from preparing the fields in April to harvesting the ripe cotton pods in November and December. And it has to be done in harmony with nature, as this is one of the declared goals of the initiative. Yaya doesn’t need a beetle countcard – he went to school for eight years and speaks three languages: his native Yom, the regional Dendi dialect, and French.

Ulrike Okbay-Reichert ensures that OTTO customers interested in sustainable products don’t have to sift through the range to find them. Since 2009, everything OTTO has on offer in the way of fashions made from sustainably grown cotton, furniture from sustainably managed forests, energy-saving appliances or shoes with natural rubber soles, has been united under the heading ‘Ecorepublic’ (otto.de/Ecorepublic).

Five 'ECO-facts' highlight the sustainable features of each product: ECO Bio for products made from natural materials; ECO Recycling for goods made from recycled or reconditioned materials; ECO Engagement for products that benefit charitable initiatives; ECO Energy for especially energy-efficient appliances; and ECO Vital for everything that promotes health and well-being. "The Ecorepublic collection is comprised of around 3,600 sustainable products and we strive to steadily expand the range," says Okbay-Reichert. Not just for the sake of the health and environmentally conscious high earners that trend and consumer researchers have labelled LOHAS for their upscale ‘Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability’ – but for everyone who has helped to push demand for ethically sound quality products steadily upward for years. “OTTO wants to its sustainable business practices to be seen not only by the industry experts, but also by its customers,” says Okbay-Reichert.

Her job is to use Ecorepublic to create visibility. Its precursor was a small online shop called Naturwelt, which sold a range of just 500 sustainable products. Within a few months, Okbay-Reichert, who had previously headed the Children’s Outerwear department, had drawn up the concept with a project team. While exploring other brand names on a trip to Milan, she had the idea for the Ecorepublic label. “A vision of consumer democracy and a community of people who advocate and advance the cause inside and outside the Group.”

In addition, Okbay-Reichert heads a team of three buyers and scouts who are always on the lookout for sustainable products. Until the day that global standards exist, the merchandise bear various internationally accredited quality seals. Goodweave for handmade carpets from Nepal and India produced without child labour. The EU flower for energy-saving TV sets. The FSC® label for wood from responsibly managed forests. The Seal of Approval that stands for non-or hypoallergenic textiles. And almost 100 percent of all OTTO textiles now bear the “Hautfreundlich, weil schadstoffgeprüft” (Skin-friendly, tested for toxins) seal.

Okbay-Reichert’s team has successfully persuaded third-party brands like Arqueonautas, Kuyichi and Misericordia to add their sustainable fashions to the Ecorepublic range. Celebrities including the fashion designer Michael Michalsky and Thomas D, a rapper with the German band Die Fantastischen Vier and designer for the Pyua label, present trendy fashions made from sustainable textiles for OTTO

Ecorepublic
is serious about combining style with sustainability – and that turns out to be a winning proposition. The number of items on sale in the Ecorepublic has increased more than six-fold since its launch; some two million items were sold in 2010. In the future, Ecorepublic is to become established as a separate fashion label for an extensive range in the home furnishings and home textiles departments, too.

Dr. Michael Heller, Director Merchandising on the OTTO Executive Board, sums it up: “The selection of sustainable products is growing at other Group companies as well. Sustainability is gradually being integrated in all key business processes across the Group. It begins with the production of raw materials and ends with the delivery of goods to the customer’s home.”

Yaya Arouna is one of the farmers who produce the raw material. The cotton he grows will perhaps one day end up in one of the articles on sale in Okbay-Reichert’s Ecorepublic.

A lot has happened since Yaya started working for ‘Cotton made in Africa’. “Thanks to the initiative we have learned how to improve the quality of our fields long-term.” He uses manure and pulses to enrich the soil, and his production per hectare is well above the average for the region. "I earn more than the others in the village who didn't join 'Cotton made in Africa'," says Arouna, who has to feed a family of eight. "On top of this, the initiative has invested in the building of schools and ensures a good education for our children."

Yaya Arouna and Okbay-Reichert, ‘Cotton made in Africa’ and the ‘Ecorepublic’, are two examples of the many ways in which the Otto Group puts its responsibility to people and nature into action. One of the people who play a key part in this sits outside his house in Sekrou, northern Benin, surrounded by his large family. The sun beats down on the dry cotton fields which have already been prepared for new growth and new work. Arouna actively shares his knowledge about resource-conserving cotton cultivation with the men in his village. For, as his aged father Orou Yaya, who cannot read or write comments: “Education turns a farmer into a better farmer.”

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Cotton from the sub-Sahara
Five African countries are working together with the ‘Cotton made in Africa’ Initiative