Seven marks appear on most products sold as sustainable. They verify entirely different things, and several verify far less than buyers assume. One of the most widely cited is not an environmental certification at all.
| Standard | Administered by | Verifies | Does not verify | Threshold | Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GOTS | Global Standards gGmbH Stuttgart, DE | Organic fiber content, chemical inputs, wastewater, human rights criteria, traceability | Carbon footprint; durability | 95%+ organic · 70–94% "made with" | 7.0 |
| OEKO-TEX 100 | OEKO-TEX AG Zurich, CH | Absence of harmful substances in the finished article, against a list of over 1,000 | Environmental impact; production methods; labor practices | 4 product classes by skin contact | annually revised |
| GRS | Textile Exchange non-profit | Recycled content, chain of custody, plus social, environmental and chemical requirements in processing | Footprint of the original virgin material | 50% consumer claim · 20% B2B | superseded by 31 Dec 2027 |
| RCS | Textile Exchange non-profit | Recycled content and chain of custody only | Processing chemistry; social criteria | 20% minimum | superseded by 31 Dec 2027 |
| FSC | FSC International forest products | Forest-material origin through third-party chain of custody: sourcing, processing, labelling, sale | Textile processing chemistry | 100% · Mix · Recycled | FSC-STD-40-004 v3-1 |
| bluesign | bluesign technologies ag Baar, CH · an SGS company | Chemical inputs at source, production data, supply-chain transparency | Fiber origin; organic status | input stream, not pass/fail | BSSL 16.0 |
| Cradle to Cradle | C2C Products Innovation Institute US 501(c)(3) · NL entity | Material health, circularity, clean air and climate, water and soil, social fairness | Single-attribute claims — multi-attribute by design | Bronze → Platinum · lowest category wins | 5.0 |
The fourth column is the one that matters. Every figure below is taken from the certifying body’s own documentation, linked in each entry.
Each entry states what the body itself publishes — what it verifies, what it explicitly does not, and the thresholds involved. The second column is the one most often assumed rather than checked.
Global Organic Textile Standard · Global Standards gGmbH, Stuttgart, DE
Organic fiber content, chemical inputs, wastewater, human rights criteria, traceability
Carbon footprint; durability
OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 · OEKO-TEX AG, Zurich, CH
Absence of harmful substances in the finished article, against a list of over 1,000
Environmental impact; production methods; labor practices
Global Recycled Standard · Textile Exchange, non-profit
Recycled content, chain of custody, plus social, environmental and chemical requirements in processing
Footprint of the original virgin material
Recycled Claim Standard · Textile Exchange, non-profit
Recycled content and chain of custody only
Processing chemistry; social criteria
Forest Stewardship Council · FSC International, forest products
Forest-material origin through third-party chain of custody: sourcing, processing, labelling, sale
Textile processing chemistry
bluesign · bluesign technologies ag, Baar, CH · an SGS company
Chemical inputs at source, production data, supply-chain transparency
Fiber origin; organic status
Cradle to Cradle Certified · C2C Products Innovation Institute, US 501(c)(3) · NL entity
Material health, circularity, clean air and climate, water and soil, social fairness
Single-attribute claims — multi-attribute by design
They assess different things, so there is no single answer. GOTS is the most comprehensive for textiles, combining organic fiber thresholds with chemical, wastewater and human rights criteria across the supply chain. OEKO-TEX 100 covers harmful substances only, bluesign covers chemical inputs at source, FSC covers forest origin, and Cradle to Cradle covers five categories across industries.
No. OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 certifies that a finished article has been tested for harmful substances against a list of more than a thousand. It does not assess environmental impact, production methods or labor practices. A product can be OEKO-TEX certified and made from virgin polyester in a coal-fired mill.
Ninety-five per cent or more certified organic fiber for the plain organic grade. The "made with x% organic materials" grade covers anything from 70% to 94%. Both carry a GOTS mark, and the logo alone does not tell you which applies.
The Recycled Claim Standard verifies recycled content and chain of custody only, from 20% recycled content. The Global Recycled Standard adds social, environmental and chemical requirements in processing, and requires 50% minimum for consumer-facing labelling, or 20% for business-to-business use.
That the product's lowest-scoring category was Bronze. The overall level equals the lowest level achieved across the five categories, so a Bronze product may be Platinum in four of them. The headline grade reports the weakest link, not the average.
They are being consolidated into Textile Exchange's Materials Matter Standard, along with the Responsible Animal Fiber framework and, on a separate gradual pathway, the Organic Content Standard. Effective 31 December 2026, mandatory for all Tier 4 audits from 31 December 2027.
From 27 September 2026, yes. Directive (EU) 2024/825 makes it a prohibited commercial practice to display a sustainability label that is not based on a certification scheme or established by public authorities.
An earlier version of this page recorded bluesign's assessment criteria as not published at that level of detail. That was wrong. bluesign publishes named, versioned reference lists — BSSL v16.0, BSBL v7.0, RSL v14.0 and the CRITERIA for chemical assessment v3.0 — all available through its downloads page.
Four items moved from unverified to sourced: the Cradle to Cradle achievement levels and lowest-category rule, the current GOTS version and effective date, the FSC chain-of-custody standard reference and scope, and the bluesign criteria documents.
The GRS entry described the Materials Matter consolidation as covering GRS and RCS with a single mandatory date. That was incomplete. It also absorbs the Responsible Animal Fiber framework and, on a separate gradual pathway, the Organic Content Standard, while the Content Claim Standard continues alongside. There are four dated milestones, not one.
Change alerts
Standards get revised, registers change, and corrections get published. If you quoted a figure from this site last quarter, nothing tells you when it stops being true. This does.
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