— What is GOTS certification? What is OCS certification? What are the audit scopes of GOTS and OCS certification? —

  With the improvement of living standards, consumers around the world pay more and more attention to "health", "environmental protection", "organic" and "green". Major domestic and foreign brands and associations have formulated corresponding certification standards to meet their needs. And how to occupy the market one step ahead, passing this kind of certification is undoubtedly a problem that Chinese enterprises must face. In this issue, the good helper of the factory inspection will explain the relevant knowledge of "organic cotton certification" for everyone.

  The term organic cotton is a literal translation from English Organic Cotton. In other foreign languages, it is also called ecological cotton or bio-cotton. In the production of organic cotton, organic fertilizers are mainly used for biological control of pests and diseases and natural farming management. Chemicals are not allowed. From seeds to agricultural products, all natural and pollution-free production. Based on the "Safety and Quality Standards for Agricultural Products" promulgated by various countries or WTO/FAO, the content of toxic and harmful substances such as pesticides, heavy metals, nitrate pests (including microorganisms, parasite eggs, etc.) Certified commercial cotton. The production of organic cotton requires not only the necessary conditions such as light, heat, water, and soil for cultivating cotton, but also specific requirements for the cleanliness of the cultivated soil environment, irrigation water quality, and air environment.

   At present, there are two main systems for organic cotton certification: OCS and GOTS

   1. OCS certification (organic content standard)

  The Organic Content Standard (The Organic Content Standard), or OCS for short, is an organic certification standard launched by Textile Exchange, a non-profit organization in the United States. The standard regulates the entire organic industry chain by tracking the cultivation of organic raw materials. Textile Exchange said OCS will replace the existing OE (Organic Exchange) blending standard. In addition, OCS will be applied to the verification of various organically grown raw materials, not limited to organic cotton.

   Organic Content Standard (OCS) can be applied to all non-food products containing 5%-100% organic raw materials. This standard can be used to demonstrate the content of organic raw materials in the final product. It can be used to trace from the source of raw materials to the final product and this process is certified by a trusted third party organization. Transparency and consistency will be upheld in the fully independent assessment of the organic content of products. 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.

  1. Certification object: non-food products produced with approved organic raw materials.

  2. Audit scope: product quality system, organic production layout and planning, organic production process risk point control

  3. Audit results: OCS is divided into two types: qualification certificate and sales certificate. The qualification certificate is valid for one year and is supervised and audited every year. The sales certificate is the organic cotton certificate for each batch of products.

   2. GOTS certification (Global Organic Textile Certification Standard)

  Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certification, Global Organic Textile Standard, GOTS for short. The standard was jointly developed and published by the GOTS International Working Group IWG, which consists of the International Natural Textiles Association (IVN), Japan Organic Cotton Association (JOCA), the American Organic Trade Association (OTA) and the British Soil Association (SA).

   The main definition of the Global Organic Textile Certification Standard (GOTS) is the requirements to ensure the organic state of textiles, including the harvesting of raw materials, environmentally and socially responsible production, and labelling to ensure consumer information about the product.

   This standard makes relevant provisions for the processing, manufacture, packaging, labelling, import, export and distribution of organic textiles. End products may include, but are not limited to: fiber products, yarns, fabrics, clothing and home textiles, this standard only focuses on mandatory requirements.

  1. Certification object: Textiles produced with organic natural fibers

  2. Audit scope: product quality system, low social responsibility system audit, environmental management system audit

  3. Audit results: GOTS is divided into two types: qualification certificate and sales certificate. The qualification certificate is valid for one year and is supervised and audited every year. The sales certificate is the organic cotton certificate for each batch of products.

  3. What is the difference between OCS certification and GOTS certification?

  1.OCS is only the production management of products, while GOTS does include three aspects: product production management, environmental protection, and social responsibility.

  2. The two certification objects are different: the objects of OCS certification are non-food products produced with approved organic raw materials; while GOTS is limited to textiles produced with organic natural fibers.

3. Different raw material requirements: OCS contains more than 5% of raw materials that meet the recognized organic standards; while GOTS has stricter requirements, requiring 70% organic natural fibers, no blending is allowed, and more than 10% synthetic or regenerated fibers (Sporting goods can contain 25% more synthetic or regenerated fibers), no GMO fibers.

  — How to apply for OCS certification + GOTS certification? What should I pay attention to when applying? —

At present, textile certification is more and more favored by big brands, so it also requires his downstream suppliers to do the same certification, so OCS certification, GOTS certification, RCS certification, GRS certification, RDS certification, RWS certification, OEKOTEX 100 certification in textiles Certifications are becoming more and more popular.

But there are many customers who don't know much about it, and even have big mistakes. For example, a customer in the clothing trade called me a few days ago, saying that his goods were detained at the customs and could not go out. When he received a batch of organic cotton GOTS certified clothing orders, he bought a batch of organic cotton fabrics, found a clothing factory without organic cotton certification to process them into clothes, and marked them with organic cotton labels. He thought that since I used organic cotton fabrics Clothes made of materials can be labeled with GOTS. In fact, this is wrong, because OCS certification, GOTS certification, RCS certification, GRS certification, RDS certification, and RWS certification are characterized by full-chain certification, such as GOTS certification, which requires cotton Planting can be traced back to garments to final product sales. All links need to be verified, such as cotton planting - spinning - weaving - printing and dyeing - garment processing - sales, all production links must be certified, which is indispensable.

   So what should I do when applying for OCS certification, GOTS certification, RCS certification, GRS certification, RDS certification, RWS certification? First of all, we need to confirm whether the supplier has such certification. If not, there are two options:

  1. Bind the certification with the supplier and get a certificate;

  2. Find a supplier with the same certification to cooperate. After this link is confirmed, it is determined that there are several certification units. In short, all processing links are indispensable.

Because OCS certification, GOTS certification, RCS certification, GRS certification, RDS certification, and RWS certification are characterized by full-chain certification, for example, the supply chain of GRS certification is generally a garbage recycling station--bottle flake crushing (cleaning, drying)-- Pelletizing plant--fiber--yarn--weaving--dyeing--clothing (this is optional)--trade (if the factory sells itself, there is no trading company), each link must have GRS certified (the link before granulation does not require certification), so it is necessary to confirm which links and companies are involved in the existing business model, and then contact our company to assist in applying for a quotation. Trading companies and dyeing factories are easily overlooked by many enterprises. They are also a link in the chain and cannot be ignored.

Certificate sample