Textile goods made from plant, animal, synthetic, man-made cellulosic and recycled fibres can now enter a certification system previously reserved exclusively for organic materials. The Global Responsible Textile Standard (GRTS), launched by Global Standards in Stuttgart, Germany on Monday sets defined environmental, chemical, human rights, business conduct, due diligence and traceability requirements for fibres certified to third-party standards recognised by GRTS.
- Fibres entering the system must meet social, ecological and traceability criteria, including a prohibition on highly hazardous chemicals and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
- The criteria also cover identity preservation along the chain of custody and the inclusion of social norms in fibre production.
- Transaction certificates and volume reconciliation both support the verification of certified fibre content as goods move through the supply chain.
- Businesses already certified to GOTS may operate systems and procedures that make applying for and receiving the newer certification more straightforward.
A NEW ROUTE: Global Standards has launched GRTS as a second textile processing standard, running in parallel with its long-established organic-only certification. The new standard covers a wider set of fibre types and brings independent oversight to how those materials are handled, processed and documented at each step of production. GRTS has entered service, and certification against it can now be sought.
- Until this launch, products outside GOTS' eligibility rules for organic fibres had no equivalent route to certification from the organisation owning both standards.
- GRTS meets a growing industry demand for a textile processing standard defining environmental and human rights criteria for the processing and physical traceability of a broader range of fibres.
- Accredited independent third-party bodies carry out the certification, which is required at each stage of processing and at each point of trade.
THE ORGANIC ROOTS: GOTS has long applied specifically to textiles made with certified organic fibres, covering the route from harvesting of raw materials through to the finished product. Global Standards, the non-profit body that owns and operates both standards, now applies comparable processing and traceability rules to a broader base of eligible materials. The two now operate within one shared certification system.
- GOTS sets rigorous, defined requirements spanning environmental management, human rights, social and business conduct, and traceability across the full production chain.
- GRTS has been developed on the basis of decades of experience drawn from the established organic standard that came before it.
WHAT THEY SAID
Following our mission as a non-profit Voluntary Sustainability Standard setter, we aim to ensure the highest level of social and environmental impact in textile value chains. GRTS is a strategic and exciting step for us. By offering a standard that covers fibres beyond organic and building it on the same system as GOTS, we support the industry's business case for sustainability and enable more positive impact together.
— Claudia Kersten
Managing Director
Global Standards
