New NOP Policy on “Organic” Textiles
The National Organic Program recently published a Policy Memorandum addressing the labeling of textile products containing organic ingredients. The new
policy, which was added to the online NOP Handbook, supersedes the July 2008
NOP textile fact sheet and confirms that processed textile products such as apparel, mattresses or socks labeled as “organic” must be third-party certified, and
all fibers identified as “organic” contained in the textile product must be certified organic to the NOP regulations.
New Marketing Benchmark
Report for Natural and
Organic Foods
Until now, brands in the organic industry set marketing budgets and determined plans without access to a relevant
benchmark. That has changed with the
publication of the Natural Products Marketing Benchmark Report 2011, recently
published by the branding consultancy,
Pure Branding in collaboration with
SPINS, with support from Organic Processing Magazine.
The report shows how companies of
different sizes and categories are succeeding in their marketing efforts, using
an in-depth survey of 411 natural products marketing decision makers. The
benchmark helps marketers to support
an annual budget rationale based on industry standards, write a more effective
marketing plan according to company
size and category and develop informed
campaigns based on the experience of
hundreds of marketers.
In the September/October issue of
Organic Processing, the authors of this
report will present key findings for our
readers as well as reveal data that is not
in the report and information specific to
those companies that specialize in marketing and selling organic products. In
the meantime, learn more at purebrand-ing.com/benchmark.
While the NOP regulations do not include specific processing or manufacturing standards for textile products, a product can be labeled as “organic” and
make reference to NOP certification if it is produced in full compliance with
both the NOP production standards (crops and livestock for raw materials) and
the NOP handling standards (processing). However, as most of these standards
and ingredients were written for food and not applicable to textile processing,
NOP labeling is likely unachievable for most garments and textile products. As a
practical alternative, the policy memo explicitly confirms that textile products
that are produced in accordance with the Global Organic Textile Standard
(GOTS) may be sold as “organic” in the U.S. though they may not refer to NOP
certification or carry the USDA organic seal. GOTS is the stringent voluntary
global standard for the entire post-harvest processing (including spinning, knitting, weaving, dyeing and manufacturing) of apparel and home textiles that are
made with certified organic fiber. Key provisions include prohibition on use of
genetically modified organisms (GMOs), highly hazardous chemicals such as azo
dyes and formaldehyde, and child labor, while requiring living wages and strict
waste water treatment practices.
The NOP also clarified that “made with organic (specified ingredient)” is a
codified labeling category under the NOP as well as a labeling category under
GOTS. Accordingly, textile manufacturers choosing to make a fiber content
claim in accordance with the FTC labeling requirements should use terminology
such as “contains 80 percent organic cotton.”
The public database of facilities certified to GOTS includes over 1,500 compa-
nies with a total of 2,754 facilities in 54 countries around the world. The database
includes almost 400 dyeing facilities, more than 200 spinning, knitting and weav-
ing units, and approximately 140 printing and manufacturing facilities. Fourteen
independent certification organizations around the world are qualified to certify
operations to the standard. The GOTS International Working Group is made up
of the Organic Trade Association (U.S.), the Japan Organic Cotton Association,
International Association Natural Textile Industry (Germany), and the Soil Asso-
ciation (UK).
