GOTS standards updated after record year

As the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) ushers in Version 7.0, it announces 2023 as ‘one of the strongest years’ with the tally of certified facilities sitting at 14,676 across 89 countries – an 8% growth from 2022. 

In response to new supply chain regulations already in force and in anticipation of further legal changes, GOTS has ‘acquired the additional role of helping companies show compliance with laws’. 

Support is delivered via an Implementation Manual which offers ‘a comprehensive solution for companies who want to produce organic textiles and be supported to ensure compliance with environmental and human rights due diligence along the value chain, from field to finished product’. 

Additionally, Version 7.0 includes a six-step due diligence handbook which ‘equips GOTS-certified operations to proactively identify, assess and mitigate adverse impacts throughout their value chains’. 

One of two major projects launched by GOTS in 2023, a partnership between the European Space Agency and software firm Marple continues to monitor organic cultivation systems through remote satellites and AI, detecting and classifying cotton fields in India, the world’s largest organic cotton producer. GOTS expects that the data will enable it to generate ‘realistic estimates of organic cotton yields in specific areas’ and to recognize fields which possess the potential for conversion to organic but which are yet to obtain certification. 

Results from the project’s first year are due to be announced in June.    

By Rosie Greenaway, editor