The Global Organic Textile Standard, better known by its acronym GOTS, celebrated its 20th anniversary this past October. As a leading standard for environmentally friendly materials that integrate social and environmental criteria, the organization is launching a campaign to mark the occasion, billed as "anti-greenwashing".
Its campaign "Faces from Field to Fashion" consists of a series of video portraits of textile professionals from all continents working in GOTS-certified units. The carefully staged sequences aim to highlight the 4 million employees working in these plants and their know-how.
The goal is to enable people to say no to greenwashing and yes to GOTS, as stated by the labeling and control network. This has historically distinguished itself from other major certification labels, especially in the cotton sector. GOTS establishes labeling and inspection procedures that are overseen by accredited third parties independent of the label.
Cotton, wool, silk, and other products are certified from the initial processing stages through spinning, weaving, knitting, and wet processing to garment manufacture. Although it is difficult to put a figure on the proportion of materials produced to GOTS standards, the organization appears many times in 's recent report on global fiber production. However, one figure stands out: the number of GOTS-certified production units has risen from 10,388 to 12,340 between 2020 and 2021.
A New Record of Certifications
GOTS has now awarded 12,338 accreditations in 79 countries. Those with the most are Turkey, Italy, Germany, Portugal and France. Its 18 certification bodies now have 12,338 certified facilities in 79 countries. These figures are 19 percent and 11 percent higher than last year. Some examples of leading apparel brands that carry the GOTS label for their products include Acne Studios, Ganni, Lee Cooper, Ninety Percent, and Paul Smith.
Among the countries with the greatest increase in GOTS-certified facilities in 2021 are Turkey, Italy, Germany, Portugal, France, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden and Vietnam. As can be seen, Spain does not appear on this list.
GOTS was founded by four organizations dedicated to the promotion of organic products: Organic Trade Association, Internationaler Verband der Naturtextilwirtschaft Soil Association UK , and The Japan Organic Cotton Association.
The other two (OTA and Soil Association) are organic organizations rooted in organic food and farming. Together, they have extensive experience in promoting organic. Like all had developed processing standards for organic textiles. GOTS grew out of a desire to harmonize these standards so that they would be recognized internationally.