The number of facilities certified to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) in 2020 rose 34% on the year before to reach five figures for the first time – with significant increases are seen in all regions.
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 made with certified organic fibre (such as organic cotton and organic wool), and includes both environmental and social criteria.
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In 2020, the number of certified facilities globally rose to 10,388, up from 7,765 the year before, employing more than 3m people in over 72 countries.
The top ten countries for certified facilities are: India (2,994), Bangladesh (1,584), Turkey (1,107), China (961), Germany (684), Italy (585), Portugal (449), Pakistan (391), USA (167) and Sri Lanka (126).
Meanwhile, GOTS-approved chemical inputs now number 25,913, an increase of 13% in 2020. This confirms that these inputs are increasingly used as a risk management tool by wet processors to satisfy legal and commercial residue requirements, the organisation says.
“The exceptional increase in this unprecedented year shows that decision-makers value GOTS as an important tool to drive sustainable transformation in a comprehensive way – from field to fashion. Using organic fibres and processing them under strict GOTS criteria definitely provides a credible and strong base for market players to be successful in the future,” says GOTS managing director Claudia Kersten.
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By GlobalDataGOTS version 6.0, to be implemented from 1 March 2021, includes stricter social and environmental criteria. Certified entities will now have to calculate the difference between wages paid and ‘Living Wages’ and will be encouraged to work towards closing this gap.
Specific references to OECD Due Diligence Guidance and Good Practice Guidance for Social Criteria and Risk Assessment as well as ethical Business Practises have been explicitly included.
