The number of facilities certified to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) has surpassed the 5,000 mark.
In an update yesterday (8 March), GOTS said it has seen an 8.2% increase in the number of GOTS certified facilities from 4,642 in 2016 to 5,024 in 2017.
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The facilities are located in 62 countries around the world with continuous growth in both production as well as consuming regions.
GOTS certification covers the processing of certified organic fibres along the entire supply chain from field to finished product. The standard aims to define world-wide recognised requirements that ensure organic status of textiles, from harvesting of the raw materials, through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing up to labelling in order to provide a credible assurance to the end consumer. Textile processors and manufacturers are enabled to export their organic fabrics and garments with one certification accepted in all major markets.
Now, GOTS says the countries or regions with the largest increase in GOTS certification in 2017 are Bangladesh (+40%), North America (+39%), Portugal (+39%), and Europe (+29%).
Meanwhile, the top ten countries in terms of total number of certified facilities are: India (1,658), Bangladesh (534), Germany (480), Turkey (445), Italy (307), China (292), Pakistan (194), Portugal (180), USA (99) and South Korea (69).
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By GlobalDataIn 2017 the 19 GOTS accredited independent certification bodies reported more than 1.74m people working in GOTS-certified facilities.
The number of chemicals on the GOTS Positive List also shows an increase of 14% to more than 17,900 from 720 manufacturers. The GOTS Positive List contains trade names of approved chemicals that must be used by all textile processors for their GOTS certified production.
“The growing number of GOTS certifications shows that GOTS is taken as a solution for managing risks, reputation and market differentiation,” said GOTS director Claudia Kersten. “We are very pleased with the development in North America. It will have the same pull effect as also seen in Europe by creating increasing capacities in the producing countries.”
