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What: A certification with strict environmental and social criteria for operations along the entire textile supply chain.

Why is it important: The recognition of the GOTS certification across consumers and business channels has grown incrementally year over year and has a direct impact on purchasing and partnership decisions.

Textiles have proven to be an important good in the past year as COVID-19 has called upon many industries to shift their supply chains to answer the increasing demand for masks and medical supplies needed around the world. To continue the sustainability series, we will explore one specific certification that addresses organic textile production: the GOTS certification. As consumer interests in the transparency of the supply chain connected to their fashion brands continue to rise, department stores need to promote their GOTS products and partnerships and ensure that there are sufficient organic products available for these environmentally aware consumers.

What it is

The GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) is the world’s leading textile processing standard for organic fibers. The standards were developed by the certifying bodies IVN (International Association Natural Textile Industry), JOCA (Japan Organic Cotton Association), Soil Association, and OTA (Organic Trade Association). GOTS enables textile manufacturers to qualify their organic fabrics and garments with one certificate accepted in all major world markets. This is an important step towards the harmonization and transparency of textile labels.

A GOTS certification is an assurance that the product meets the global standards for the processing and manufacturing of organic textiles. The standard covers the entire post-harvest processing including spinning, knitting, weaving, dyeing, and manufacturing of apparel and home textiles made with certified organic cotton and wool and includes both social and environmental criteria. GOTS is a key certification to ensure the authenticity of organic fiber and its safety.

How it works

GOTS sets the standard by creating requirements for the production of organic textiles to make sure every step of the supply chain is covered from harvesting and sewing to packaging. The requirements are based on environmental and social criteria to guarantee that the textile is produced in an eco-friendly manner. It also certifies that laborers and workers are protected and treated with fair trade norms during the process.

Some of the key features of GOTS is that it prohibits the use of harmful chemicals in the production of organic textiles, it covers the entire production process from plant growth to packaging materials, and the textile must have 70% organic fiber at minimum. If chemicals are used, they must adhere to strict environmental and toxicological guidelines. All textiles must meet a certain level of criteria and quality to be certified and the product is tested and appraised at every stage of the process by an experienced certifier. All processors and textile manufacturers are expected to meet strict social criteria to ensure fair trade practices and safe working environments. Yearly audits and surprise checks are conducted to verify that there is a continuance of correct practices.

GOTS is not the only standard that exists in the cotton and textile space. The OCS (Organic Content Standard) is used to verify organically grown raw materials from farms to the final product to increase organic agriculture production. OCS has seen record growth with a 48% increase of certified facilities in 2019. Another noteworthy certification is Oeko-Tex which qualifies that textiles are free of harmful chemicals and safe for human use. While GOTS only covers organic textiles, Oeko-Tex includes certifications associated with organic and non-organic textiles.

Why is it important

Until 2003, the sale of organic cotton items in the United States relied predominantly on e-commerce, mail order catalogues, natural and health food stores, and small specialized eco-textiles shops or boutiques. Today, department stores like Nordstrom and brand stores like American Apparel, Levi’s, Nike, and Timberland also have organic cotton items for sale.

The trend of using organic cotton has expanded a lot from the United States to Europe in the past few years. Typically, brands have found that outsourcing their eco-textile and organic cotton items to Turkey, China, India, and Pakistan can reduce costs and increase economic efficiency. American Apparel, on the other hand, uses GOTS-certified cotton to process sweatshop-free t-shirts made 100% in the United States in downtown Los Angeles. The company’s turnover has increased 50% per year since 2002 and the brand has expanded to Europe through its success.

In Europe, Germany and Switzerland are the top two markets for organic cotton textiles. The French market for fair trade products is also growing rapidly. With the involvement of large brands and retailers, the number of points of sale for organic cotton and GOTS-certified items has exponentially increased and can be found in regular sale channels like department stores and supermarkets.

The concept of organic cotton is successfully being marketed to brands and retailers in the fashion industry as being part of their policies for CSR (corporate social responsibility). The involvement of large fashion brands and retailers that are using organic cotton has generated a lot of attention from other parts of the textile industry, from designers and the media. This has further strengthened the interest of consumers in organic cotton textiles and clothing as well as their willingness to purchase.

Limits and Criticism

In 2019, 40,645 metric tons of organic cotton were sourced from Xinjiang, China, a province with allegations of forced labor, prison labor, child labor, and serious human rights infringements. The region produces one-sixth of the world’s global organic cotton. Credible reports of forced labor involving the Uyghur and the Kazakh ethnic groups in China have caused some countries, such as the United States, to ban the import of both raw cotton and goods containing cotton from the province.

There are eight GOTS-certified facilities in Xinjiang, yet GOTS has failed to comment on the implications or impacts of this revelation of harsh labor environments on the future of these facilities or their certification. GOTS’ silence around the issue is a bit alarming as China has the fifth-largest amount of GOTS-certified facilities in the world.

As the region produces such a large portion of the world’s cotton, the traceability of the cotton from Xinjiang can become easily blurred as it moves through various supply chains and gets mixed with other textiles around the world. Traceability can be a difficult topic, but GOTS was ranked best in the “Traceability of Clothing with Textile Seals” by the German consumer product testing organization Stiftung Warentest. They concluded that GOTS offered full transparency and traceability while complying with strict social and ecological criteria through all stages of production.

GOTS: The latest fashion trend

GOTS-certified textiles have created quite the buzz in the fashion industry from consumer demands. The Organic Industry Survey conducted by Organic Report reveals that savvy customers seek out companies of integrity through the achievement of GOTS certification.  It seems to have become the standard that the market expects on a global scale. In 2019 alone, the number of GOTS-certified facilities grew globally by 35% from 5,760 to 7,765 located in 70 different countries. The growth has been seen in both production and consuming regions.

Retailers do not need to be GOTS certified unless they are involved with a business-to-business trade activity where they sell to other retailers or they repack and relabel the GOTS products. The benefits of certification include streamlined processes when adding a product to the certification or getting label approvals throughout the year, a license number that will help keep trade secrets confidential, and access and membership to the GOTS public database which receives over 2,000 hits a week in the United States.

Though retailers and department stores do not need to be GOTS certified, it is important that they are transparent about their affiliation, if claimed. While the GOTS logo can be used on websites or labeling, retailers need to make sure not to give the impression that all products are GOTS certified. If the GOTS logo is used in general to show that GOTS goods are sold among others, each GOTS product must show the logo with its license number, label grade, and certifier reference. The GOTS organization audits and investigates any unauthorized or misleading use of the trademark and will take legal or public action if needed to safeguard the credibility of the program and labeling system.

With COVID-19 increasing the demand for masks and medical gowns to be manufactured, being GOTS certified has helped some United States companies win state and federal contracts because of their proven traceability systems. This raises a few interesting questions to think about. Does this mean that GOTS certification can bring a competitive advantage not only with consumers but also in the business-to-business world? Can affiliation with GOTS certification open doors to other business opportunities?  On the consumer side, should department stores ensure that there is a certain percentage of GOTS-certified merchandise offered to meet the rising customer demands?

Credits: IADS (Mary Jane Shea)

Read Also: Textile Exchange Organic Cotton Market Report 2020

Read Also: GOTS label guidelines