Global Standard hopes to bring its considerable knowledge and leadership skills to the Make the Label Count coalition with a commitment to ensuring perspectives from all parts of the supply chain are considered and integrated.
Make the Label Count is an international assembly of stakeholders in the natural fibre industry, which encompasses producers, manufacturers, brands, standards organisations, and environmental advocates.
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The organisation’s involvement is part of a broader effort to address the issue of greenwashing in the industry and to support consumers in making educated choices about their textile purchases.
Global Standard global regulations specialist Marie-Luise Pörtner said: “GOTS, with more than 16,000 certified facilities, shows that businesses want to prove their sustainability efforts, and that people want to buy more environmentally friendly textiles, provided that the labels and claims are accurate and credible.
“Consumers can trust the GOTS label because of robust, verifiable ecological and human rights criteria throughout the textile production value chain, a strong due diligence commitment and sustainability claims backed by independent third-party certification bodies.”
In December last year, GOTS made it into the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Recommendations of Specifications, Standards, and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing.
Certification under the GOTS validates the organic nature of textiles, starting from the procurement of raw materials and extending through manufacturing practices that are mindful of environmental and social criteria, culminating in the final product labelling.
The Make the Label Count campaign, initiated in 2021, focuses on revising the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology being developed for textiles.
The PEF aims to measure a product’s environmental impact and inform consumers accordingly.
However, there are concerns regarding its current design, which could inadvertently endorse unsustainable practices. Critics point out issues such as inconsistent system boundaries between natural and synthetic fibres and the omission of factors like microplastics and plastic waste from its assessments.
These shortcomings suggest that without significant improvements, PEF could inadvertently validate non-sustainable consumer habits with seemingly eco-friendly EU endorsements.
In December last year, cotton sustainability initiative Better Cotton joined the Make the Label Count coalition in seeking a critical review and revision of the European Commission’s PEF methodology for fashion and textiles.
