The number of facilities certified to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) increased by 35% year-on-year in 2019 – with the largest growth seen in Bangladesh and the Netherlands.

GOTS includes both environmental and social criteria for post-harvest to retail shelf management, addressing all the processing stages (ginning, spinning, knitting, weaving, dyeing and manufacturing) of apparel and home textiles made with certified organic fibre (such as organic cotton and organic wool).

In 2019, the number of certified facilities globally rose to 7,765, up from 5,760 the year before. The growth rate is the highest recorded by the GOTS with more than 3m workers working in GOTS-certified facilities in 2019.

The certified facilities are spread across 70 countries, with GOTS noting the “huge leap forward” was seen in both production and consuming regions. 

Countries with the largest growth in percentage in certification were Bangladesh, which grew by 73% alongside the Netherlands; Spain, which grew 71%; and Turkey, whose certified organic factories rose by 65%. In terms of total numbers of certified facilities, the highest increase is reported from Bangladesh (+505), followed by India (+438) and Europe (+396).

Meanwhile, the top ten countries in terms of total numbers of GOTS-certified facilities in 2019 are: India (2,411), Bangladesh (1,194), Turkey (858), Germany (565), China (448), Italy (444), Portugal (301), Pakistan (276), USA (147), and the UK (75).

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“The enormous growth shows that GOTS successfully serves as sustainable solution from certified organic fibre to finished product. With more and more GOTS certified operations and products we altogether substantially contribute to sustainable development,” says Claudia Kersten, GOTS managing director.  

2019 was also a GOTS revision year resulting in the new GOTS Version 6.0, due to be released in spring 2020.

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