Aid by Trade Foundation Announces New Head of Business Development

Hamburg, 2025-02-25. Valéa Vadaleau will join the Aid by Trade Foundation team as Head of Business Development on March 1, 2025. She succeeds Christian Barthel, who will retire in November 2025 after 18 years at the Hamburg-based foundation.

With extensive experience in the international textile industry and a strong background in environmental, social and governance (ESG) frameworks, Valéa Vadaleau will strengthen the Foundation’s management team. The fashion manager has held various management positions in the German textile trade since 2010 and was and was responsible for the successful establishment and expansion of Peek & Cloppenburg’s sourcing office in Hong Kong. In the course of her career, she specialized in the area of sustainability. Most recently, through her own company, KYBELE, she advised companies on the development and implementation of sustainable supply chains.

Tina Stridde, Managing Director of the Aid by Trade Foundation, says: “Her expertise in the international textile industry, in strategic planning and in the implementation of sustainable textile supply chains, as well as her leadership experience will make a decisive contribution to the further development of the Aid by Trade Foundation and will set an important course for the future of the organization. I look forward to working with her. At the same time, I would like to sincerely thank Christian Barthel for his many years of commitment to the organization. His expertise, creative power and determination have made a decisive contribution to the foundation’s success.”

Christian Barthel began his career in 1986 as a sourcing manager at the Otto Group and spent 26 years for the company in Turkey and China before becoming Head of Business Development, where he was responsible for the sales and supply chain activities of the Aid by Trade Foundation. Until his retirement, he will remain Managing Director of ATAKORA GmbH, which holds the exclusive marketing rights for the Aid by Trade Foundation’s standards and ensures the smooth integration of the sustainable cotton and cashmere textile fibers into international supply chains.

About the Aid by Trade Foundation:
Founded in 2005, the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) is an internationally renowned non-profit organisation that works throughout the world to promote sustainable raw materials. Through its sustainability standards: Cotton made in Africa® (CmiA), Cotton made in Africa Organic, The Good Cashmere Standard® (GCS), and the Regenerative Cotton Standard® (RCS) AbTF makes a decisive and measurable contribution to transforming fibre and textile production. Following a value-to-business approach, the foundation’s goal is to accelerate nature restoration and contribute to a future where farmers as well as herders and their communities can thrive. To achieve these goals, it activates market forces and invests in innovative farming as well as supply chain tools. Learn more at: www.aidbytrade.org

Press contact
Christina Ben Bella, e-mail: Christina.Benbella@abt-foundation.org
Holger Diedrich, e-mail: Holger.Diedrich@abt-foundation.org
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