DCS organic and ecological textiles

The aim of the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) is to define requirements to ensure organic status of textiles, from harvesting of the raw materials, through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing up to labeling in order to provide a credible assurance to the end consumer.

GOTS is recognized as the world’s leading processing standard for textiles made from organic fibers. It defines high-level environmental criteria along the entire organic textiles supply chain and requires compliance with social criteria as well.

Only textile products that contain a minimum of 70% organic fibers can become GOTS certified. All chemical inputs such as dyestuffs and auxiliaries used must meet certain environmental and toxicological criteria. The choice of accessories is limited in accordance with ecological aspects as well. A functional waste water treatment plant is mandatory for any wet-processing unit involved and all processors must comply with minimum social criteria. 

Finished or processed textile products sold in the U.S. that imply or leave the consumer to believe that the final product is certified organic must meet either the USDA organic regulations or GOTS.

The Global Standard gGmbH on a Global Organic Textile Standard is made up of the Organic Trade Association (OTA), The Soil Association (UK), International Association Natural Textile Industry (IVN)(Germany), and the Japan Organic Cotton Association.  

Manual for Implementation

The Manual for Implementation is a tool that was developed by the GOTS Technical Committee to provide interpretation advice on specific GOTS criteria and the related quality assurance system. 

The Manual represents a flexible quality assurance tool of the Technical Committee to provide advice and clarification to the GOTS approved certifiers and users of the GOTS and can be updated as needed without going through a formal standard revision procedure. The interpretations, corrections and further clarifications as provided in this document are binding for all approved GOTS certifiers and users of the GOTS.

Since 2005 Ecological Textiles offers a wide range in fabrics, fibres, yarns and dyes that are manufactured and processed in a sustainable way. In our view ‘sustainable’ means above all that it has been made of natural fibers, where possible from organic farming. So if you’re looking for fabrics, yarns or raw fibres that are made from organic cotton, wool, hemp, linen or silk, you’re at the right spot.

Our main focus is on fabrics for the fashion industry, but this site also presents fabrics that are suitable for interior design, curtains and bags. Our naturally dyed woolen fabrics have not only been used by fashion designers but also in fancy restaurants, our hemp/organic cotton blends were applied in shirts and trousers but one can find the heavier hemp fabrics in bags or curtains, even in sails and tents.

All our cottons fabrics (woven and knitted) are produced in Turkey, conform our specs, in factories with which we have developed a close working relation. For us (based in the Netherlands) Turkey is not only the nearest cotton producing country (thus reducing the footprint of transport), it is also a country where GMO is forbidden and where the cotton is of excellent quality.

Ecological Textiles is a GOTS-certified company. GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) is a certification that stands for ecology and social responsibility. The standard is your best assurance that the raw materials from which fabrics or yarns were made, really are organic and that strict rules concerning eco friendly production have been followed along the whole production chain. An article can only be certified when the GOTS standard was followed in all previous steps in the production chain. Because Ecological Textiles is a GOTS certified company, this gives you the possibility of making GOTS certified garments, provided of course that your company is certified as well.

Even though we applaud the GOTS standard and are certified company, not all the natural materials that are offered on this website are produced conform the GOTS standard. This is mostly because some fabrics or yarns are almost impossible to obtain in an organic quality (for instance hemp). Sometimes a specific article that we like is not certified as organic. In these cases we choose for the inherent and sometimes unique properties of the fiber or the quality of the material. Every fabric and every yarn on this site has its own story.