knitting, weaving, dyeing and manufacturing) of apparel and home textiles made
with organic fiber (such as organic cotton and organic wool), and includes both
environmental and social provisions. Key provisions include a ban on the use of
genetically modified organisms (GMOs), highly hazardous chemicals (such as azo
dyes and formaldehyde) and child labor, while requiring strong social compliance
management systems and strict wastewater treatment practices. As all fiber certified to GOTS must be certified organic, GOTS certification means consumers are
purchasing items certified organic from field to finished product.
The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) recently turned five years
old, adding 80 new companies and another country (Kyrgyzstan) to the list
of those with GOTS-certified facilities.
By the end of 2011, 2,714 facilities in
57 countries around the world were
certified to the organic apparel and
textile standard, including 450 dyeing
facilities, more than 220 spinning,
knitting and weaving units and approximately 160 printing and manufacturing facilities.
GOTS Celebrates Five Years, Recognized by USDA
The top 20 countries in terms of
GOTS-certified facilities consist of Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, China,
France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong,
India, Italy, Japan, Korea (South),
Netherlands, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal,
Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom
and the United States. Overall, the ten
countries with the greatest increase in
facilities gaining GOTS certification in
2011 were: Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany,
Greece, India, Switzerland and the U.S.
A big milestone was reached May
20, 2011, when the U.S. Department of
Agriculture released a policy memorandum confirming that textile products produced in accordance with
GOTS may be sold as “organic” in the
U.S. It further clarified that the use of
U.S. National Organic Program
(NOP)-certified fibers and third-party
certification of the textile products is a
prerequisite for use of the term “
organic” in labeling of such products.
GOTS is the stringent voluntary
global standard for the entire posthar-vest processing (including spinning,
