Currently, many clothing brands require factories related to textiles or clothing to provide various product certificates. This article will briefly introduce certificates like GRS, GOTS, and OCS, which many clothing brands care about.
- The Global Recycled Standard
GRS is a voluntary, international, complete product standard for supply chain manufacturers on product recycling, chain-of-custody controls, recycled content, socially responsible and environmental practices, and enforcement of chemical restrictions, sponsored by Textile Exchange and certified by a third-party certification body.
The purpose of GRS certification is to ensure that the claims made on the relevant products are correct and that the products are produced under good working conditions and with minimal environmental impact and chemical influence.GRS certification is designed to meet the requirements of companies to verify the recycled content of their products (including finished and semi-finished products) and to verify the social responsibility, environmental norms, and chemical use of the relevant operations.
Application for GRS certification must meet traceability requirements, environmental protection, social responsibility, recycling label, and general principles.
In addition to raw material specifications, this standard includes environmental processing standards. It includes strict wastewater treatment requirements and chemical use (according to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and Oeko-Tex 100. Social responsibility factors are also included in the GRS, which aims to ensure the health and safety of workers, support workers’ labor rights, and comply with standards set by the International Labor Organization (ILO).
Many brands are currently making recycled polyester and cotton products, requiring fabric and yarn suppliers to provide GRS certificates and their transaction information for brands to track and certify.
- The Global Organic Textile Standard
The main definition of GOTS is the requirement to ensure the organic status of textiles, including harvesting raw materials, environmentally and socially responsible production, and labeling to ensure consumer information about the product.
This standard makes provisions for processing, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, importing, exporting, and distributing organic textiles. End products may include but are not limited to fiber products, yarns, fabrics, clothing, and home textiles. This standard is only concerned with mandatory requirements.
1.Certification object: textiles produced with natural organic fibers
2.Scope of certification: GOTs products production management, environmental protection, and social responsibility are three aspects
3.Product requirements: contains 70% natural organic fibers, does not allow blending, up to 10% synthetic or recycled fibers (sports goods can contain up to 25% synthetic or recycled fibers), without genetically modified fibers.
Organic textiles are also one of the most important certifications required by major brands for raw materials, of which we should distinguish the difference between GOTS and OCS. They have different requirements for the organic content of the products.
- The Organic Content Standard
OCS can be applied to all non-food products containing 5% to 100% organic ingredients. This standard can help verify the content of organic ingredients in the final product. It can help trace raw materials from source to final product, and the process is certified by a trusted third-party organization. The standard will uphold transparency and consistency in the independent assessment of the organic content of the product. The standard can be used as a business-to-business tool to help companies ensure that the products they buy or pay for complying with their requirements.
1. Certification object: Non-food products made with approved organic ingredients.
2.Scope of certification: OCS product production management
3.Product Requirements: Contains 5% or more of ingredients that meet recognized organic standards
OCS requirements for organic ingredients are much lower than GOTS, so generally, brand customers will require suppliers to provide GOTS certificates rather than OCS certificates.