SUPIMA

What SUPIMA does

SUPIMA is a non-profit organization founded in 1954 and headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. It serves as the trademark holder and promotional body for American Pima cotton, a premium extra-long staple cotton variety grown primarily in the southwestern United States. The organization licenses its registered certification trademark to manufacturers, brands, and retailers across the apparel and home textile supply chain, enabling those licensees to label and market products containing authentic American Pima cotton. SUPIMA's core function is brand stewardship: protecting the integrity of the SUPIMA name, promoting demand for American Pima cotton, and supporting the growers and supply-chain partners who produce it.

The business model is built on trademark licensing fees, member contributions, and promotional funding derived from the premium cotton supply chain it represents. With 17 employees, SUPIMA is a lean organization whose value proposition is concentrated entirely in the reputation, authentication standards, and licensing network surrounding the SUPIMA mark. The organization provides no technology platform or product beyond the trademark itself; its assets are the 70-year brand equity, grower relationships in the American Southwest, and the licensed downstream network of brands and manufacturers.

The input data is notably thin on operational details — no financial figures, licensee counts, leadership names beyond the generic contact, recent strategic initiatives, or technology infrastructure are disclosed. Any analysis of SUPIMA's revenue mechanics, customer concentration, or growth trajectory is therefore limited to inference from its organizational type, headcount, and the structural role of certification marks in commodity supply chains.

Name

SUPIMA

Website

https://supima.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SUPIMA is a non-profit trade organization founded in 1954 that owns and licenses the certification trademark for American Pima cotton. It serves premium cotton growers in the southwestern United States and the apparel and textile brands that use their fiber.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cotton Trade Association and Brand Licensing

NAICS

Cotton Farming (111920), Other Services Related to Advertising (54189)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Cotton Farming (Upland & Pima/ELS) (AFAGAFAA)

Keywords

• Premium cotton fiber
• Cotton trademark licensing
• Cotton brand promotion
• Agricultural trade association
• Cotton fiber certification

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Core offering

SUPIMA is the trademark and promotional organization for American Pima cotton, a premium extra-long staple cotton variety grown primarily in the southwestern United States. The organization licenses the Supima® brand to textile manufacturers, apparel brands, and retailers, certifying products made from authentic American Pima cotton.

Product overview

SUPIMA is the trademark and promotional organization for American Pima cotton, a premium cotton variety grown primarily in the southwestern United States. The provided source content is minimal, containing only the company name and homepage URL, without detailed information about specific products, services, or product modules. A comprehensive product and service portfolio cannot be fully documented from the available source material.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Supima® Trademark Licensing

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Direct peers

• Better Cotton Initiative: Better Cotton Initiative is a multi-stakeholder sustainability standard for cotton. It is comparable to Supima as a non-profit organization that licenses a cotton-related mark and certifies fiber for downstream brand use, though it focuses on sustainability rather than fiber quality.
• Cotton Council International: Cotton Council International is the export promotion arm of the U.S. cotton industry, running the Cotton USA trademark program. It is directly comparable to Supima as a U.S.-based non-profit that licenses a cotton fiber mark and runs international marketing to differentiate American cotton for brands and consumers.
• Egyptian Cotton brand (Cotton Egypt Association): The Cotton Egypt Association licenses the Egyptian Cotton trademark for premium extra-long staple cotton. It is directly comparable to Supima as a competing premium ELS cotton trademark organization targeting the same luxury apparel and home-textile end markets.

Broad incumbents

• The Woolmark Company: The Woolmark Company licenses the Woolmark trademark and promotes wool globally. It is comparable to Supima as an established fiber-origin non-profit trademark and licensing organization that runs brand-building campaigns and quality certification programs for premium natural fibers.
• Cotton Incorporated: Cotton Incorporated is the research and marketing organization for U.S. upland cotton. It is comparable to Supima as a cotton-focused non-profit trade/promotional organization that funds advertising, research, and category demand, though it covers the much larger commodity upland segment rather than premium Pima.

Emerging players

• Organic Cotton Plus: Organic Cotton Plus supplies organic cotton fiber and yarns to brands. It is comparable to Supima as a fiber-origin-focused supplier organization building a differentiated cotton identity, though it focuses on organic certification rather than ELS quality.

Regional players

• Australian Cotton: Australian Cotton is the industry body promoting Australian cotton. It is comparable to Supima as a country-of-origin cotton promotional organization, though focused on Australian rather than American Pima production and primarily serving Asia-Pacific markets.

Others

• The Mohair Council: The Mohair Council promotes South African mohair and operates a licensing/marketing program for a premium natural fiber. It is thematically comparable to Supima as a fiber-specific non-profit that runs trademark licensing and demand-building campaigns for a luxury natural fiber.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/supima

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SUPIMA