Projects

We are among the first companies in Turkey to sign the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), established in partnership with the United Nations Global Compact and the United Nations Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Unit (UN Women).

WEPs consist of 7 basic principles and aim to contribute to the private sector in strengthening their existing efforts on gender equality, developing institutional policies and programs, and reporting their work in this field.

KOTON acts with the responsibilities and obligations of being a WEPs signatory in all its business processes. All the actions it takes in its processes are based on WEPs commitments.

We act with the awareness of our power to initiate and realize transformation in our sphere of influence. We are working with the aim of fulfilling our responsibilities for sustainable development with the improvements in the Fashion Retail/Ready-to-Wear sector and the initiatives we take on social issues.

We attach special importance to gender equality as one of the most important steps in contributing to social development. With the vision of incorporating women into the economic system and social life, we launched the Handicraft Collection in 2016 to include women who are excluded from the labor force in the economic system. We aim to improve the living conditions of women in the vulnerable group with this project by including them in the production-income chain and to enable them to take a more active role in social life.

We brought our efforts on strengthening women, in line with the WEPs principles we have signed, with our “KOTON Stakeholders Gender Equality – WE ARE EQUAL Project” to a wider network to include our suppliers.

We aim to raise awareness of gender equality and initiate a positive transformation with our We Are Equal Project, which is brought to life with the cooperation of the Industrial Development Bank of Turkey (TSKB) and the French Development Agency (AFD).

We Are Equal Project includes evaluations and improvements with the principle of equality provided by the companies in the KOTON supply chain to their female employees with topics such as training, career development and equal opportunities, career support for employees with children, hygienic lactation rooms for nursing mothers, and prevention of workplace harassment.

We create new business opportunities with the Housewives Project we have implemented in order to encourage the participation of housewives in business life. With this project, we offer women who have prioritized their homes the opportunity to work part-time to ensure their gradual transition to business life. Women determine their work days and hours, either 3 days a week for 5 hours each or 5 days a week for 3 hours each. The Housewives Project aims to provide employment for women, provide career development opportunities through training, and make women active members of the economic system.

In addition to the side benefits and private projects, we offer stimulating communication and sharing opportunities for women in areas such as Personal Development, culture and art, and prioritize creating an inspiring environment where successful names in their fields meet with Koton employees.

Purple Room Chats are held with at least 2 guest speakers every day during the Women’s Day week.

We enrich this traditional project with content that will be beneficial for KOTON Women throughout the year. Purple Room is one of the most important initiatives of women’s empowerment efforts in KOTON.

In Koton, the rate of Women employees is 72%, and the rate of Women managers is 54%

Embracing diversity throughout the organization, nurturing differences and ensuring the participation of employees in all processes are among KOTON’s priorities.

8% Generation “X”
38% Generation “Y”
54% Generation “Z”

Koton Love

We have implemented the Koton Love Collection project, aiming to extend the sheltering, feeding, and care initiatives we conduct for stray animals into a broader corporate structure. Through the Koton Love Project, we strive to support the protection of animal rights and enhance the living conditions of our furry companions on the streets. We develop projects that improve the living conditions of stray animals with the portion of the sales revenue from our Koton Love Collection, excluding costs.

Respect Water

In line with our manifesto of Respect for Life, and guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in 2021, we added another dimension to our sustainability efforts. With the goal of preserving every drop of our life-source, water, we introduced our Water Respect collection in the spring-summer season of 2021 in collaboration with the World Freediving Record Holder and National Athlete Şahika Ercümen. As Turkey’s first signatory to the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), our designs in the collection embody the ethos of “Respect for Water,” utilizing entirely eco-friendly materials and environmentally conscious production techniques. Designs are crafted using organic cotton, BCI-certified cotton, recycled materials, and Lenzing Ecovero Viscose fabric certified with 50% reduced water consumption. The sewing threads and other accessories are also chosen from natural and eco-friendly products. With our Water Respect project, in our 6th season, Koton has contributed to a total water savings of 75 million liters and a reduction of 1,155,000 kg of carbon emissions. We will continue to uphold our commitment to sustainability and contribute to the future of our planet.

Plastic-Free Kaş Project

We are the sponsor of the Plastic-Free Kaş Project, which is aimed at fighting against plastic pollution in Kaş and is developed by Etki Cemberleri Vakfi (Circles of Impact Foundation) with the UNDP Global Environment Fund and the Raw Foundation as a local mentor. Our project aims to reduce the use of plastic in a measurable manner in Kaş, which is the pearl of the Mediterranean, to have at least 50 percent of the businesses to be partners in the change, and to reach their targets of deplasticization.

Better Cotton

We take pride in being the first Turkish brand to be a member of Better Cotton, a non-profit program dedicated to improving cotton farming globally. Through our membership, with Better Cotton, we support their mission to help cotton communities survive and thrive while protecting and restoring the environment Better Cotton guides millions of cotton-producing farmers in increasing productivity in their production processes while using less water and fewer harmful chemicals.

The training provided by Better Cotton aims to create a multi-dimensional cycle of benefits, including sustainable cotton production methods, efficient use of water, preserving the health and natural structure of the soil, and establishing a fair, balanced, and inclusive operation in the production processes.

Today, Better Cotton has a total of 2.2 million farmers in 22 countries, including Turkey.

Better cotton is sourced via chain of custody model called mass balanced. This means that Better Cotton is not physically traceable to end products, however, Better Cotton Farmers benefit from the demand for Better Cotton in equivalent volumes to those we ‘source.’ As Koton, in 2023 we sourced 25% of our total cotton consumption from Better Cotton and committed to source % 50 by 2025.

As a result of sourcing 5.075,7 tonnes of Cotton as Better Cotton between 2021 and 2023, we have achieved the following:

• An estimated 3.349.980 m3 of water were saved, thanks to our sourcing of Better Cotton
• An estimated 2.046 kgs of pesticides were avoided, thanks to our sourcing of Better Cotton
• Better Cotton Farmers benefited from an estimated 634.466 € additional profit* thanks to our sourcing of Better Cotton

*Better Cotton Farmers experience profit increases for a variety of reasons, most commonly due to increased yields and/or optimised use of inputs (such as irrigation water, pesticides or synthetic fertiliser).