New Online Database Compiles All GOTS-Certified Companies

The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) recently re-launched its website, www.Global-standard.org, which includes an online database of all companies it has certified. In 2009, approximately 1,500 companies with a total of 2,811 facilities in 55 countries around the world were certified to the organic apparel and textile standard–nearly a 40-percent increase over the number certified in 2008.

A stringent, voluntary global standard for the entire post-harvest processing (including spinning, knitting, weaving, dyeing and manufacturing) of apparel and home textiles made with organic fiber (such as cotton and wool), GOTS certification addresses both environmental and social provisions for post-farm to retail shelf management. Because all fiber certified to GOTS must already be certified organic, GOTS certification means consumers are purchasing items certified organic from field to finished product.

The top 20 countries based on the number of GOTS-certified facilities are India, Turkey, China, Pakistan, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Germany, Bangladesh, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Peru, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, United States, Portugal, Taiwan, Indonesia, France and the Netherlands. The public database contains almost 400 dyeing facilities; more than 200 spinning, knitting and weaving units; and approximately 140 printing and manufacturing facilities.

According to Christine Bushway, executive director of the Organic Trade Association, “The new GOTS website will take the guesswork out of creating a coordinated supply chain and make it much easier for companies around the world to do business easily and efficiently.”