"Uzbekistan the land of cotton flowers" from the interview of Muzafar Razakov

For Responsible Cotton

From one kilogram of cotton fiber, five T-shirts are made.
Muzaffar Razakov often reminds: producing just one T-shirt takes thirteen to fourteen months — “from seed to shirt. That’s when we begin to understand how much work it takes… And we start treating our clothes differently.”

He also speaks about the legacy of a past era, when cotton production was such a high priority that the government paid little attention to the methods used.
This led to the near disappearance of the Aral Sea, since cotton is extremely water-intensive.
“This is the most serious problem in Uzbekistan. We, as private companies, are investing in solutions to save water and improve yields — and the government covers half of the cost,” he says.

Muzaffar doesn’t hide the fact that these projects are expensive, but sees them as necessary — to give his country and its cotton a sustainable future.

He has been immersed in the industry since childhood, thanks to his father — a textile engineer and teacher.
Muzaffar himself always dreamed of owning his own company.
The turning point came when a high-ranking acquaintance encouraged him to think bigger:
“It was a chain reaction. You see the successes — and they give you the energy to keep moving forward.”

Gaining Autonomy

The transformation Uzbekistan has experienced dates back to 2016, when President Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power.
The government set a goal to process all of the country’s cotton — turning it into yarn, fabric, and finished garments — and to support the private sector in making that possible.

This shift allowed Muzaffar Razakov’s company to grow from a small consulting firm in the textile industry into one of the largest industrial groups in the country.
Just a few blocks from Lola’s Human House, the Global Textile building faces a wide boulevard.
Muzaffar welcomes me in his office.
Tea is served in cups decorated with a cotton flower — a very common design here.

The entrepreneur opened his first spinning mill in 2015 — just before the wave of major reforms.
Today, he leads 6,500 employees across four production sites.
Dozens of spinning mills have sprung up in Uzbekistan, and around twenty companies like his now cover the entire production chain.

He chose to deepen his knowledge in agronomy.
Half of his 75,000 hectares — which is 7.5 times the size of Paris — produces “white gold.”
The other half is planted with wheat, intended to feed his employees.

“Everything happened so fast! We didn’t know how to do it. But I had no time to be afraid. I don’t think I could do it again...”

With its own fields and factories, Global Textile now produces and sells yarn, raw and dyed fabric, clothing, and home textiles.

“We have to be transparent. If the international community knows us, they can trust us — and we’ll be able to work in an atmosphere of trust.”

Recently, the company received certification from the Better Cotton Initiative, a brand alliance based in Washington, D.C.
“We put in a lot of effort to turn cotton into real ‘white gold.’ Before, it was dark cotton.”
Here, the CEO refers to the painful legacy of the way cotton was harvested before 2016.

He also reflects on that time:
“I always wondered why we couldn’t produce ourselves — why we had to supply another country when we had so much unemployment here...
And then we suddenly found ourselves at the heart of all these transformations. We could write books about this story.”