2010 Press Releases
Global Organic Textile Standard Film Premieres Oct. 6 Around the World
Regional GOTS representatives appointed worldwide
What: On October 6, the International Working Group (IWG) on the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) will host showings of its new film “The Global Organic Textile Standard – Ecology and Social Responsibility” in countries around the world. The film highlights the huge environmental impact of the conventional textile production and how companies getting certified to the stringent standard can reduce this impact while also addressing important social concerns. The event comes on the two-year anniversary of the release of the GOTS logo in 2008 which manufacturers around the world have started to add to the labels of products certified to the standard.www.global-standard.org
The premieres will also serve as celebrations of the IWG’s launch of establishing a system of regional Representatives worldwide to drive an increase in the awareness of and certification to GOTS. Thus far, the IWG has appointed Representatives in U.S./Canada (Sandra Marquardt), Great Britain (Christopher Stopes), Japan (Yoshiko Ikoma), and Denmark (Elisabeth Tosti). Appointments in the German-speaking countries and elsewhere will be made over the next year.
Where: The film will be shown in Copenhagen, Hong Kong, London, and Washington, DC, Oct. 6. Specifically:
- Washington, DC - The Organic Trade Association hosts a seminar with the filmmaker and producer, manufacturer, and retail association representatives, as well as econscious and Control Union representatives.
- Copenhagen, Denmark - Danish textile stakeholders’ meeting at Organic Designs, the only retailer in Denmark where all products are GOTS-certified.
- Hong Kong – Showing of the film at Interstoff Asia Essential trade show
- London, UK – Showing of the film at the RITE Group Conference, Central Hall Westminster
The film will also be shown October 16 at the Organic Trade Association’s GOTS meeting at the Natural Product Expo East in Boston, MA, and the Japan Organic Cotton Association (JOCA) will host a press conference and film showing in Tokyo October 25.
Contact: Sandra Marquardt, smarquardt@onthemarkpr.com, +01-301-592-0077.
Background: GOTS is the 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 organic cotton and organic wool), and includes both environmental and social provisions for post-farm to retail shelf management. Key provisions include a ban on the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), highly hazardous chemicals such as toxic heavy metals and formaldehyde, and child labor, while requiring living wages and strict waste water treatment practices. Because at least 95% of the fibers in each textile product certified to GOTS must already be certified organic to qualify for the GOTS label grade ‘organic,’ GOTS certification means consumers are purchasing items certified organic from field to finished product. The GOTS label grade ‘made with organic’ requires a minimum of 70% certified organic fibers.
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 in 2009. That is almost a 40 percent increase over the 1,977 facilities certified to the standard in 2008. The GOTS standard was approved in 2006. The companies are listed on a public data base at www.global-standard.org where the standard, Licensing & Labeling Guide, latest news and more information are posted.
Participants in the GOTS International Working Group are the Organic Trade Association (U.S.), Japan Organic Cotton Association, International Association Natural Textile Industry (Germany), and the Soil Association (UK).
Global retail sales of organic cotton apparel and home textile products reached an estimated $4.3 billion in 2009, according to the Organic Cotton Market Report 2009 released by the non-profit organization Organic Exchange in May 2010.
