54 questions · verified 14 September 2026
Every question this site answers
Type a word and the list narrows. Each answer opens on the page that settles it, where the citation and the verification date live.
Starting out 6
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Which certification proves a product is sustainable?
None of them on its own. Each mark verifies a defined scope — organic fiber content, chemical safety, recycled input, chain of custody — and is silent on everything outside it.
Answered here
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When does the EU Green Claims Directive apply?
Directive (EU) 2024/825 applies from 27 September 2026. It bans generic environmental claims that cannot be substantiated and labels not based on a certification scheme.
Answered here
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What is replacing GRS and RCS?
Textile Exchange is consolidating GRS, RCS, the animal fiber framework and the Organic Content Standard into one standard, Materials Matter, mandatory 31 December 2027.
Answered here
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Can I cite these figures in my own material?
Yes. Every figure links to the primary document it came from — cite that source, and carry the unit and functional unit with the number.
Answered here
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Does Eco Worldwide rank the certifications?
No. They measure different things, so there is no best — only what you need to establish, and which mark establishes it.
Answered here
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Who pays for this site?
Client review work and a single labeled sponsorship placement per section. Nothing in the reference text is for sale.
Answered here
Claims law 13
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When does the EU green claims law take effect?
Directive (EU) 2024/825 applies from 27 September 2026.
Answered on EU and UK green claims
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Is "eco-friendly" still allowed in the EU?
Only with evidence.
Answered on EU and UK green claims
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Is the Green Claims Directive the same as Directive 2024/825?
No.
Answered on EU and UK green claims
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Can I still display a sustainability label on packaging in the EU?
Only if it is based on a certification scheme or established by public authorities.
Answered on EU and UK green claims
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What are the CMA's six green claims principles?
Claims must be truthful and accurate; clear and unambiguous; must not omit or hide important information; comparisons must be fair and meaningful; claims must consider the full life cycle of the product or service; and claims…
Answered on EU and UK green claims
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Does the UK follow the EU rules on green claims?
No.
Answered on EU and UK green claims
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Who enforces green claims in the United States?
The Federal Trade Commission, under the FTC Act and the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act.
Answered on EU and UK green claims
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Are the FTC Green Guides law?
Not in themselves.
Answered on What the FTC Green Guides require
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What does the FTC mean by recyclable?
An unqualified recyclable claim requires that recycling facilities be available to a substantial majority of consumers or communities where the item is sold.
Answered on What the FTC Green Guides require
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Can I call a product biodegradable?
Only if it completely decomposes within one year after customary disposal, and you can substantiate that.
Answered on What the FTC Green Guides require
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When were the Green Guides last updated?
The current text is the 2012 revision.
Answered on What the FTC Green Guides require
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What do the Green Guides say about certification seals?
Under § 260.6 a seal that does not convey the basis for its certification is likely to convey general environmental benefits, which the Guides treat as deceptive.
Answered on What the FTC Green Guides require
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Do the Green Guides cover the word sustainable?
The current text does not address it.
Answered on What the FTC Green Guides require
Certification 12
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Which sustainability certification is the most rigorous?
They assess different things, so there is no single answer.
Answered on What the label actually certifies
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What is the Materials Matter Standard?
Textile Exchange's unified standard, consolidating the Global Recycled Standard, the Recycled Claim Standard, the Responsible Animal Fiber framework and — on a separate gradual pathway — the Organic Content Standard.
Answered on Four standards become one
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When does the Materials Matter Standard become mandatory?
31 December 2027, from which date all Tier 4 audits must use it.
Answered on Four standards become one
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Are GRS and RCS being discontinued?
They are being consolidated into the Materials Matter Standard rather than simply withdrawn.
Answered on Four standards become one
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What happens to my GRS certification?
It needs to transition.
Answered on Four standards become one
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Does the Organic Content Standard follow the same timeline?
No.
Answered on Four standards become one
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When do labels and packaging need to change?
30 June 2029 is the date by which all claims and labels must conform.
Answered on Four standards become one
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How do I check whether a supplier is really GOTS certified?
Search the GOTS certified suppliers database by company name or country, open the record, and check three things: the certificate expiry date, the field of operation, and the product categories.
Answered on GOTS suppliers, United States
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How many US companies hold a GOTS certificate?
The GOTS register listed 166 certified entities in the United States when this page was verified on 14 September 2026, out of 12,320 worldwide.
Answered on GOTS suppliers, United States
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Does a GOTS certificate mean the whole company is certified?
No.
Answered on GOTS suppliers, United States
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What is the difference between a trader and a manufacturer on the GOTS register?
The field of operation says which.
Answered on GOTS suppliers, United States
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Why can’t I find a supplier I know is certified?
GOTS notes that certification bodies are still populating its current repository.
Answered on GOTS suppliers, United States
Materials 18
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Is bamboo fabric sustainable?
The crop is a strong fiber crop — fast-growing, regenerating from its root system, typically unirrigated.
Answered on Is bamboo fabric sustainable?
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Is bamboo the same as rayon?
Most textile sold as bamboo is rayon.
Answered on Is bamboo fabric sustainable?
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Is it legal to label a product bamboo in the US?
Only if it is made directly with bamboo fiber — mechanically processed, with the fiber intact.
Answered on Is bamboo fabric sustainable?
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Has the FTC fined companies over bamboo claims?
Yes.
Answered on Is bamboo fabric sustainable?
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How can I tell if bamboo fabric is real bamboo?
Check the fiber name on the care label, and consider the hand.
Answered on Is bamboo fabric sustainable?
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Is my supplier assurance enough to substantiate a bamboo claim?
No.
Answered on Is bamboo fabric sustainable?
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Is recycled polyester better than virgin polyester?
On feedstock, yes — it displaces virgin fossil input.
Answered on Is recycled polyester sustainable?
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Where does recycled polyester come from?
Overwhelmingly from post-consumer PET bottles.
Answered on Is recycled polyester sustainable?
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Is recycled polyester actually recycling?
It is, but in one direction only.
Answered on Is recycled polyester sustainable?
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Is recycled polyester use growing?
Its volume is growing and its share is not.
Answered on Is recycled polyester sustainable?
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Does recycled polyester shed more microplastic?
One 2025 study found that it did.
Answered on Is recycled polyester sustainable?
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What does a GRS or RCS label prove about recycled polyester?
That a stated proportion of recycled input is present and that chain of custody was tracked.
Answered on Is recycled polyester sustainable?
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Does hemp use less water than cotton?
Yes, but the size of the gap depends on the measure.
Answered on Hemp vs cotton water
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How much water does cotton actually use?
Chapagain and colleagues put the global average at 3,644 cubic metres per tonne of seed cotton — 1,827 green and 1,818 blue — and 9,359 cubic metres per tonne of finished cotton textile, of which 4,443 is green and 4,917 blue.
Answered on Hemp vs cotton water
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What is the difference between green, blue and gray water?
Green water is rainfall stored in soil and used by the crop.
Answered on Hemp vs cotton water
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Is it true cotton uses 10,000 litres per kilogram?
The figure is real but usually quoted misleadingly.
Answered on Hemp vs cotton water
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Where does the claim that hemp uses half the water of cotton come from?
Largely from a 2005 Stockholm Environment Institute report by Cherrett and colleagues, which gave cotton at 9,788 to 9,958 litres per kilogram of lint and hemp at 2,123 litres using an experimental green decortication process,…
Answered on Hemp vs cotton water
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Does a lower water footprint make hemp the better fiber?
Not on its own.
Answered on Hemp vs cotton water
Working with us 5
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Is this legal advice?
No.
Answered on Services
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What do you need from me to start?
Your live claims — packaging copy, product page text, marketing lines — and the certificates you hold or your suppliers hold.
Answered on Services
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Why is the renewal watch priced annually rather than monthly?
Because certificate expiry runs on an annual cycle and a monthly subscription would imply monthly value that is not there.
Answered on Services
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Can you review claims for a market outside the EU, UK and US?
The documented coverage is those three.
Answered on Services
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Do you work with certification bodies or standards organizations?
No commercial relationship exists with any certifier, standards body or testing house, and none is accepted.
Answered on Services
Nothing matches that. — or ask it and it gets written.
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