“What does that actually mean?” I asked, pointing to the logo on the cardboard packaging of some yellow yarn. “This is really bad but I’m not exactly sure.” I was sitting in a friend’s studio, a designer, and we were candidly unpicking the intricacies of her practice over a beer. “There are just so many different certifications, it’s hard to remember what each means,” she said, finishing: “You sort of end up just trusting them without knowing.”
Standards and certifications are put in place to help ensure sustainable practice along the supply chain. A standard is a set of specifications, guidlining criteria I suppose, for how something should be made, meanwhile a certification is a legal requirement. Both were created with good intentions and both result in positive practice. Most of the time, that is.
The caveat is: there are so many standards and certifications in existence that it can be hard to differentiate between what each does. This, combined with the fact that products can be adorned with a ‘clean’ or ‘ethical’ stamp where it’s perhaps not warranted (as was nicely demonstrated by Sephora in my last column), makes the whole affair a little ambiguous.
I’m trying to make sense of it. What do they mean? What are some key standards and certifications to recognise? And, what are the risks that come with their multiplexity?
Sustainability is multi-faceted, built upon the foundations of just treatment for the planet and all who live within it. It’s almost impossible to define ‘sustainability’, it resists definition, opening the door to loose interpretation – and, the problem child, greenwashing. Certifications provide a means for companies to navigate this complexity. Managed by a third party, they make sustainable practice much easier by holding production to a certain standard.
As consumers become increasingly aware of and interested in where their clothes come from – and the impact they’re having on the planet – looking out for, or better yet, understanding certifications is a starting point for recognising, vetting even, a brand or corporation’s ethos, allowing an informed judgement to be made about said brand or corporation moving forward. We can only hope that one is deterred by a brand or corporation caught out for malpractice or greenwashing. Not saying any names. Shein.
We’ll run through a couple of the key standards and certifications but, you know the drill, food for thought, homework never hurts. (That much).
Fairtrade International is a global multi-stakeholder nonprofit that promotes the fair treatment of workers involved in the supply chain through fair wages and working conditions. Producers, traders, import and exporters, manufacturers involved across industries from coffee to textiles are certified through a rigorous audit. Certified B Corp measures a company’s entire social and environmental performance. OEKO-TEX Standard 100 ensures products are safe for human health by testing textiles for harmful substances.
This certification has nothing to do with sustainable materials or fair production. OEKO-TEX’s MADE IN GREEN certification is the next step up, as such, focusing more on how a product is manufactured, ensuring an ‘environmentally-friendly facility under safe and socially responsible working conditions. The Woolmark certifies products are made from natural, renewable and biodegradable wool, it ensures that animal fibres and wool products are traceable, of a high quality and benefit the environment.
Speaking of animals, PETA guarantees that production is completely free from animal testing or its vegan certification ensures product lines are free from animal-derived ingredients. The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) does what it says in the name, ensures organic textiles and natural fibre production from field to fashion. For a company to be certified by GOTSm a product must be at least 95% natural organic fibres and it must be free from formaldehyde, aromatic solvents, GMOs and toxic metals. The certification also ensures social responsibility and fair labour conditions.
Now, not all standards and certifications are product seals, representing a handful of challenges in itself. They don’t guarantee climate neutrality nor do they ensure environmentally sound practice, for that matter. Some stamps simply represent a membership to an initiative. This might permit the advertisement of a corresponding logo but it doesn’t speak for actual performance and action. An example of this is through membership to an initiative that doesn’t require changes to business. While certifications are supposed to provide security, they’re not immune from greenwashing.
A certification can blind side consumers from delving deeper. Standards and certifications have become an integral part of marketing for that very reason. For instance, some reports found fair trade wages and conditions end at the farmer, not extending to any seasonal or part-time workers. Fairtrade has also been critiqued for exacerbating power dynamics between western countries and the Global South. Meanwhile, back in 2020, GOTS found fake certificates had been used on 20,000 metric tonnes of organic cotton in India. Then you’ve got the issue that certifications are not accessible to all: not all small or locally-owned brands can afford them in the first place. Nonetheless, policymakers are taking measures to tackle the challenges and ambiguity faced by standard and certification systems.
I suppose if I were to impart any words of wisdom (not that I’m qualified to do so), I might say: look into a standard or certification, really try to understand what it stands for before accepting it as the holy grail and green gospel.
Cheers.