The number of facilities becoming certified to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) increased 11 percent to surpass the 3000 mark in 2012, growing from 2,714 facilities in 2011 to 3,016 facilities in 2012, according to new data from the GOTS International Working Group. GOTS is recognized as the leading processing standard for textiles made from organic fibers worldwide. GOTS certification means consumers are purchasing items certified organic from field to finished product.
The Top Twenty countries in terms of the total number of GOTS-certified facilities were: India, Turkey, China, Germany, Pakistan, South Korea, Italy, Bangladesh, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Portugal, USA, Austria, Netherlands, Greece, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Peru, Switzerland, and Denmark.
While the top three countries remained the same as the previous year, Germany rose to 4th place, surpassing Pakistan, and Portugal moved from 20th to 12th place by more than doubling the number of its certified facilities. In addition, companies became certified to GOTS in 5 countries with no previous GOTS-certified manufacturing (Bahrain, Colombia, Kenya, New Zealand, and Paraguay). GOTS certified facilities are now located in 62 countries around the world.
Overall, Europe led the way with a 44 percent increase in the number of GOTS-certified facilities from 2011-2012 (506-728). Countries with the greatest increase in facilities gaining GOTS certification in 2012 were (in order by rank) India, China, South Korea, Germany, Bangladesh, and Portugal.
India remained the top country for fourth year in a row -and here too a new record was set by surpassing the 1,000 mark of GOTS certified facilities for the first time (from 955 in 2011 to 1062 in 2012) For the first time GOTS was the supporter of Biofach India in 2012. A very large number of consumers and businesses visited GOTS booth in the fair and interacted with Mr. Sumit Gupta. The interest in GOTS certified organic textile products is on the rise in both consumers as well as industry. India also witnessed an increase of brands and stores selling GOTS certified textiles in retail.
"Increasingly, consumers are demanding ecologically- and socially responsibly-processed textiles, and companies are searching for tools to make their supply chains more sustainable. The result is a ‘pull effect’ and more companies becoming GOTS-certified,” says Herbert Ladwig, GOTS Managing Director.
There are now seven regional representatives worldwide who are driving increase in the awareness of certification to GOTS. The newest representative, Shirley Han, was appointed in 2012 to focus on growing awareness of GOTS in China.
With this extensive network in place, GOTS and the Soil Association in October 2012 launched the first global organic cotton campaign, asking textile industry leaders "Have you cottoned on yet?” to urge them to sign on and publicly commit to supporting organic fiber production and processing to GOTS.
Also in 2012, the GOTS operating unit changed from a limited liability corporation into a non-profit organization, the Global Standard gemeinnu¨tzige GmbH, the German legal term for a non-profit organization. While financially and organizationally GOTS has always operated as a non-profit, the external documentation has now been formalized.
