Sustainability in textiles is no longer a marketing checkbox — it is a supply chain requirement. Retailers in Europe and North America increasingly mandate certified fabrics, and brands that cannot provide documentation risk losing shelf space, facing customs delays, or being excluded from tender lists. But the certification landscape is fragmented, and buyers often struggle to know which standard applies to their product category and target market.
This guide explains the four certifications most commonly requested in knit and woven fabric sourcing — OEKO-TEX Standard 100, GOTS, GRS, and OCS — and how they affect your purchasing decisions.
OEKO-TEX Standard 100: The Safety Baseline
OEKO-TEX Standard 100 is the most widely recognized textile certification for chemical safety. It tests for harmful substances — including formaldehyde, heavy metals, pesticides, and phthalates — at every stage of production, from raw fiber to finished fabric.
Importantly, OEKO-TEX has four product classes based on skin contact intensity. Class I covers products for babies and toddlers (the strictest standard). Class II covers products with direct skin contact, such as t-shirts, underwear, and bedding. Class III covers products with limited skin contact, like jackets. Class IV covers decoration materials.
For apparel brands sourcing jersey knits, interlock fabrics, or plain woven textiles for direct skin-contact garments, Class II certification should be the minimum requirement. Most of the fabric mills we work with at Snow Textile are OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified.
GOTS: The Organic Gold Standard
The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) goes beyond chemical safety to cover the entire production chain, including environmental and social criteria. To carry a GOTS label, a fabric must contain at least 70% certified organic fibers (for “made with organic” labeling) or 95% (for “organic” labeling). The standard also mandates strict wastewater treatment, bans child labor, and requires fair working conditions throughout the supply chain.
GOTS certification is particularly important for brands selling into the EU market, where the EU Organic Regulation and the Green Claims Directive are tightening requirements around organic claims. A fabric labeled “organic” without GOTS or equivalent certification faces increasing regulatory risk.
At Snow Textile, some of our partner mills are approved for GOTS production, meaning we can proceed with GOTS-certified orders for buyers who require organic fabric documentation. This applies across our knit fabric and woven fabric ranges, subject to minimum order quantities and material availability.
GRS: Recycled Content with Chain of Custody
The Global Recycled Standard (GRS) verifies recycled material content and tracks it through the production chain. It covers both pre-consumer (production waste) and post-consumer (used garments, plastic bottles) recycled content. GRS also includes social and environmental processing requirements similar to GOTS.
GRS is the standard most often requested by brands making recycled-content claims — particularly for polyester and nylon fabrics. But it also applies to recycled cotton, wool, and blended fabrics. The key requirement is chain of custody: every entity in the supply chain that handles the certified material must be GRS-certified.
For buyers interested in peached fabrics, terry knits, or any fabric category where recycled yarn content is a selling point, GRS certification provides the documentation needed to support content claims at retail. Our mills that hold GRS certification can also transfer credits to retail clients who are members of partner programs.
OCS: Organic Content Without the Full Social Audit
The Organic Content Standard (OCS) is a lighter-weight alternative to GOTS. It verifies the organic content percentage in a fabric and tracks it through chain of custody, but it does not include the social and environmental processing requirements that GOTS mandates. OCS is often used as a stepping stone toward full GOTS certification or for products where the full GOTS scope is not practical for cost or supply chain reasons.
How to Choose Which Certification Matters for Your Order
If you are selling into EU markets and making organic claims, GOTS or OCS certification is increasingly non-negotiable. If you are selling basic apparel in North America, OEKO-TEX Standard 100 is the most commonly accepted safety certification and should be your baseline. If your brand markets recycled content, GRS or the Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) should be part of your sourcing criteria.
At Snow Textile, we help buyers navigate this landscape by clearly communicating which certifications are available for each fabric type and what documentation can be provided within 24 hours of request. We also support BCI (Better Cotton Initiative) credit transfers for retail clients who are BCI members — a detail that matters when your customer’s compliance team asks for proof of sustainable sourcing.
Understanding certifications before you issue a purchase order saves time, avoids compliance surprises, and strengthens your brand’s position with environmentally conscious retailers. To discuss certification requirements for your next fabric order, review our product range or reach out through the contact page.
