At present, many clothing brands require various certificates for textiles and factories producing textiles. This paper briefly introduces the GRS, GOTS, OCS, BCI, RDS, Bluesign, Oeko-tex textile certifications that major brands focus on recently.
1.GRS certification
GRS certified global recycling standard for textile and garment; GRS is a voluntary, international, and complete product standard that addresses supply chain vendor enforcement of product recall, chain of custody control, recycled ingredients, social responsibility and environmental practices, and chemical restrictions, initiated by TextileExchange and certified by a third-party certification body.
The purpose of GRS certification is to ensure that the claims made on the relevant product are correct and that the product is produced under good working conditions and with minimal environmental impact and chemical impact. GRS certification is designed to meet the recovered/recycled ingredients contained in products (both finished and semi-finished) for verification by the company, and to verify the related activities of social responsibility, environmental practices and chemical use.
Applying for GRS certification must meet the five requirements of traceability, environmental protection, social responsibility, regeneration marking and general principles.
In addition to raw material specifications, this standard also includes environmental processing standards. It includes stringent wastewater treatment requirements and chemical use (according to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) as well as Oeko-Tex100). Social responsibility factors are also included in the GRS, which aims to guarantee workers' health and safety, support workers' Labour rights and comply with standards set by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
At present, many brands are doing recycled polyester and recycled cotton products, which requires fabric and yarn suppliers to provide GRS certificates and their transaction information for brand tracking and certification.
2.GOTS certification
GOTS certifies global organic textile standards ; The Global Standard for Organic Textile Certification (GOTS) is defined primarily as requirements to ensure the organic status of textiles, including harvesting of raw materials, environmentally and socially responsible production, and labeling to ensure consumer information about products.
This standard provides for the processing, manufacturing, packaging, labelling, import, export and distribution of organic textiles. Final products may include, but are not limited to: fiber products, yarns, fabrics, clothing and home textiles, this standard focuses only on mandatory requirements.
Object of certification: textiles produced from organic natural fibers
Certification scope: GOTs product production management, environmental protection, social responsibility three aspects
Product requirements: Contains 70% organic natural fiber, blending is not allowed, contains a maximum of 10% synthetic or recycled fiber (sporting goods can contain a maximum of 25% synthetic or recycled fiber), no genetically modified fiber.
Organic textiles are also one of the important certifications for the raw material requirements of major brands, among which we must distinguish the difference between GOTS and OCS, which are mainly different requirements for the organic ingredients of the product.
3.OCS certification
OCS certified organic content standard; The Organic Content Standard (OCS) can be applied to all non-food products containing 5 to 100 percent organic ingredients. This standard can be used to verify the organic material content in the final product. It can be used to trace the raw material from the source to the final product and the process is certified by a trusted third-party organization. In the process of fully independent assessment of organic content of products, the standards will be transparent and consistent. This standard can be used as a business tool between companies to help companies ensure that the products they buy or pay for meet their requirements.
Object of certification: non-food products produced from approved organic raw materials.
Certification scope: OCS product production management.
Product requirements: Contain more than 5% of raw materials that meet the approved organic standards.
OCS requirements for organic ingredients are much lower than GOTS, so the average brand customer will require the supplier to provide a GOTS certificate rather than an OCS certificate.
4.BCI certification
BCI Certified Swiss Good Cotton Development Association; The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), registered in 2009 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, is a non-profit international membership organization with 4 representative offices in China, India, Pakistan and London. At present, it has more than 1,000 member organizations around the world, mainly including cotton planting units, cotton textile enterprises and retail brands.
BCI works with a wide range of stakeholders to promote BetterCotton growing projects globally and to facilitate the flow of BetterCotton throughout the supply chain, based on the cotton production principles developed by BCI. The ultimate goal of BCI is to transform the production of cotton on a global scale through the development of the Good Cotton Project, making good cotton a mainstream commodity. By 2020, the production of good cotton will reach 30% of the total global cotton production.
BCI six production principles:
1.Minimize harmful effects on crop protection measures.
2.Efficient water use and conservation of water resources.
3.Focus on soil health.
4.Protect natural habitats.
5.Care and protection of fiber quality.
6.Promoting decent work.
At present, many brands require their suppliers' cotton to come from BCI, and have their own BCI tracking platform to ensure that suppliers can purchase real BCI, where the price of BCI is the same as that of ordinary cotton, but the supplier will involve corresponding fees when applying for and using the BCI platform and membership. In general, the BCCU usage is tracked through the BCI platform (1BCCU=1kg cotton lint).
5.RDS certification
RDS certified Humane and Responsible down standard; RDS ResponsibleDownStandard (Responsibledown Standard). The Humane and Responsible Down Standard is a certification program developed by VF Corporation's TheNorthFace in collaboration with the Textile Exchange and the Dutch ControlUnion Certifications, a third-party certification body. The project was officially launched in January 2014 and the first certificate was issued in June of the same year. During the development of the certification program, the certification issuer worked with leading suppliers AlliedFeather& Down and Downlite to analyze and verify compliance at every stage of the down supply chain.
The feathers of geese, ducks and other birds in the food industry are one of the best quality and best performance down clothing materials. The Humane Down Standard is designed to evaluate and trace the source of any down based product, creating a chain of custody from gosling to end product. RDS certification includes the certification of raw material down and feather suppliers, and also includes the certification of down jacket production factories.
6. Oeko-TEX certification
The OEKO-TEX®Standard 100 was developed by the International Environmental Textile Association (OEKO-TEX®Association) in 1992 to test the properties of textile and clothing products in terms of their impact on human health. The OEKO-TEX®Standard 100 specifies the types of known hazardous substances that may be present in textile and apparel products. Testing items include pH, formaldehyde, heavy metals, insecticides/herbicides, chlorinated phenol, phthalates, organotin, azo dyes, carcinogenic/allergenic dyes, OPP, PFOS, PFOA, chlorobenzene and chlorotoluene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, color fastness, volatile matter, odor, etc., and products are divided into four categories according to end use: Class I for infants, Class II for direct skin contact, Class III for non-direct skin contact and Class IV for decorative use.
At present, Oeko-tex, as one of the most basic environmental certification for fabric factories, generally requires cooperation with brand owners, which is the minimum requirement for factories.
Wrapping up
Siyinghong garment factory is a leader in the fashion industry and has earned numerous certifications and standards to help your business succeed.
If you want your garments to be eco-friendly and stylish, look no further than siyinghong garment factory. We hold sustainability and social responsibility as our highest priorities in production so that you can confidently create fashionable clothing without harming the environment. Contact us today for more information on how we can help you reach your goals.
Post time: Mar-28-2024
