Certifications & trade terms

Auditing programme of the Brussels-based trade association amfori for social standards in global supply chains — with more than 2,400 retail and brand members, Europe's largest social audit network.

Unilateral tariff preference scheme of the EU (and other industrialised countries) for goods from developing countries — particularly relevant for textiles because many source countries like Bangladesh (EBA) export duty-free to the EU.

Global organic standard for natural rubber latex — 95 % certified organic latex, processing and social criteria across the whole supply chain.

Leading global standard for organic textiles with strict ecological and social requirements along the entire supply chain from raw material to end product.

World-leading organic textile standard, Version 7.0 since 2023 — fibre (min 70 %/95 %), chemistry, waste water and ILO social criteria.

Strict chain-of-custody standard for recycled fibres with additional social, environmental and chemical requirements on all processing stages.

Current version of the Textile Exchange recycling standard — minimum 20 % recycled content, chain of custody, chemistry and social criteria.

Holistic company certification by B Lab: assesses governance, workers, community, environment and product — certified from 80/200 points.

Resist-dyeing technique: parts of the fabric are protected from the dye bath with wax, ties or folds and keep their original colour.

World's largest sustainability programme for conventional cotton, training smallholders in resource-efficient farming and running a mass-balance system in trade.

Seven core principles of the BCI for more sustainable cotton farming — including crop protection, water, soil, fibre quality and decent work.

Undecorated, unembroidered standard textiles from catalogues of basics manufacturers like B&C, Fruit of the Loom or Stedman, individually decorated for promotional goods, merch and corporate wear.

Swiss process certification strictly assessing the entire textile value chain for resource efficiency, consumer and worker safety and emissions.

Umbrella term for all techniques used to apply brand or company logos, slogans or designs to a textile - from classic screen printing via embroidery to sublimation and woven labels.

Finishing process in which one fibre in a blended fabric is chemically etched away, leaving a semi-transparent pattern of the remaining fibre.

British climate neutrality standard following the CarbonNeutral Protocol - conformant balancing to PAS 2060 with verified project offsets.

Mandatory marking for personal protective equipment and other regulated products in the EEA — confirms conformity with all applicable EU directives and regulations.

Classic cotton trousers made of densely woven twill, originally developed as US Army trousers, today a Business Casual and corporate wear staple.

Incoterms® clause for sea transport: the seller bears freight and minimum insurance to the destination port, but risk passes to the buyer already upon loading on the vessel.

Product or brand label proving climate-neutral status via the measure-reduce-offset principle (Change Climate Project).

New "ClimatePartner certified" label that since 2024 replaces the contested "climate neutral" claim; documents CO2 calculation, reduction and offsetting.

Textile Exchange base chain-of-custody standard, upon which GRS, RCS, OCS, RWS and other content standards build.

Internationally active Dutch certification body auditing and issuing many of the key textile labels (GOTS, OCS, GRS, RCS) on behalf of the standard owners.

Cotton or cotton-blend fabric with characteristic vertical ribs (wales); differentiated by rib density into pincord (>15/inch), standard cord (8-15/inch) and wide wale (<8/inch).

Uniform clothing for employees of a company in customer contact (retail, hospitality, reception, field sales, trade fairs) - positioned between workwear and business fashion.

Holistic circular certification system that designs products so all components can be fully reused in either biological or technical cycles.

Four certification tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum) within the C2C system of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute (Oakland/San Francisco) — overall rating = lowest category score.

Certification of textile materials to Cradle-to-Cradle principles v4 (2021) — assessed across five categories and four levels.

Sub-certificate within the Cradle to Cradle family that assesses the human and ecological safety of every ingredient in a textile.

Garments individually cut from bulk fabric and sewn - as opposed to catalogue blank textiles. Allows fully custom silhouettes, designs and brand details.

Incoterms® clause with maximum seller obligation: the seller delivers the goods at the destination customs-cleared and duty-paid, ready for unloading — the buyer only has to unload.

Independently verified Type III environmental declaration to ISO 14025 with LCA data for a product — basis for B2B comparisons and tenders.

Externally verified, quantitative Type III environmental declaration to ISO 14025 based on an ISO 14040 LCA &mdash; makes the whole-life environmental impacts of a textile product transparently comparable.

Reference code of conduct of the British Ethical Trading Initiative (1998, London) on which many audit systems — including SMETA — are built.

Official ecolabel of the European Union (Regulation EC 66/2010) marking products with particularly low environmental impact throughout the whole life cycle.

European Commission framework for durable, recyclable and low-impact textiles by 2030.

Incoterms® clause with minimum seller obligation: the seller only makes the goods available at its own premises — the buyer takes care of loading, transport, export and import formalities.

US multi-stakeholder initiative (1999, Washington DC) supporting brands in building ethical labour programmes in global supply chains — focus on sportswear and electronics.

Dutch non-profit (1999, Amsterdam) supporting garment brands in improving working conditions in sewing factories — code of labour practices, audits, complaint system.

Cotton certified with the Fairtrade minimum price and premium for smallholder farmers — often also organic-certified.

Globally known fair-trade label guaranteeing minimum prices and premiums to smallholder cotton farmers (Fairtrade Cotton) and to workers along the making-up chain (Textile Standard).

Incoterms® clause for all modes of transport: seller hands over the export-cleared goods to a carrier nominated by the buyer at an agreed place — the ICC-recommended container alternative to FOB and EXW.

Incoterms® clause exclusively for sea transport: the seller delivers on board a ship nominated by the buyer at the port of shipment; from that moment the buyer bears costs and risk.

Self-assessment tool from the Higg Index family for brands and retailers &mdash; measures sustainability strategy, sourcing, retail and consumer communication.

Tool suite from Sustainable Apparel Coalition/Cascale (San Francisco) for self-assessment of environmental and social performance in the textile industry — brand, facility and product level.

Globally uniform six-digit goods nomenclature by the World Customs Organization (WCO, Brussels) for customs classification — textiles fall in chapters 50-63; EU sub-classifications CN and TARIC go up to 10 digits.

11 standard clauses of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC, Paris) for international goods deliveries — govern the transfer of costs, risk and transport responsibility between seller and buyer.

Globally recognised management-system standard by the International Organization for Standardization (Geneva) for environmental management in facilities of any industry — current edition 2015.

The global ISO framework standard for Life Cycle Assessment &mdash; defines four phases (goal & scope, inventory, impact assessment, interpretation); the basis for EPDs, PEF and every textile sustainability claim.

ISO management-system standard for occupational health and safety (2018), which globally replaced the older OHSAS 18001 — publisher ISO, Geneva.

Global standard for energy management systems — for energy-intensive dyehouses, weavers and industrial laundries one of the most effective sustainability levers.

The globally recognised standard for quality management systems — today a de-facto prerequisite for textile factories to supply retail and industry.

Diamond-sector role model for conflict raw material tracing — used in textiles as a reference model for supply chain transparency.

Time from order release to delivery; in textile trade often broken down into production, transport and customs buffer.

Independent testing system for leather and leather articles regarding harmful substances — the leather counterpart of STANDARD 100.

Traceable product label from OEKO-TEX granted only when the textile is tested for harmful substances under STANDARD 100 (or LEATHER STANDARD) and all key production sites hold the STeP certification for sustainable production.

Product label of the OEKO-TEX® family combining harmful-substance testing (STANDARD 100) with social and environmental certification of production sites (STeP) plus QR-code traceability.

Minimum quantity set by the manufacturer from which a production or stock order will be accepted — varies widely by product: standard t-shirts from 500 units, own-colour production from 3,000-5,000 units, complete new developments often 10,000+.

World's strictest eco-textile standard, awarded by the International Association of Natural Textile Industry (IVN) — goes beyond GOTS.

Official state ecolabel of the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland) certifying more than 60 product groups including textiles under strict life-cycle criteria.

Chain-of-custody standard by Textile Exchange verifying the amount of organic natural fibres in a product and their traceability from field to end product.

OEKO-TEX certification for chemicals, dyes and auxiliaries in textile and leather production — with three assessment levels.

Certifications for wood and paper products from sustainable forestry — relevant for cardboard packaging, hangtags and shipping boxes of textiles.

Labelling programme of the animal-rights organisation PETA for clothing, shoes and accessories made entirely without animal components.

Formation of small fibre balls (pills) on the fabric surface due to mechanical stress; particularly visible on wool and cotton-polyester blends.

Concept in which a retailer or converter sells goods under their own brand while outsourcing production to a manufacturer (converter, dyer, decorator).

Customs determination that goods have been sufficiently processed in the country of origin under the rules of a free-trade agreement and can therefore enjoy reduced or zero duties in the importing country.

Brand technology of the Belgian corporate-wear manufacturer B&C: quick-drying, breathable piqué and jersey fabrics for polo shirts and T-shirts that wick sweat outwards.

Textile Exchange chain-of-custody standard that solely verifies the amount and traceability of recycled fibres, without environmental or social requirements.

Compliance with the EU chemicals regulation REACH (EC 1907/2006) — applies to all textiles imported or sold in the EU, in particular the candidate list of substances of very high concern (SVHC).

Certification for supply-chain due diligence aligned with OECD guidelines and UN Guiding Principles — aimed at brands and retailers, not factories.

Voluntary standard for down and feathers from animal-welfare-compliant husbandry, developed in 2014 by The North Face and Control Union, now managed by Textile Exchange.

Certification standard by Textile Exchange for goose and duck down — prohibits live-plucking and force-feeding, ensures traceability along the entire supply chain.

Textile Exchange standard for mohair from angora goats kept under animal-welfare-compliant conditions — response to PETA revelations from South Africa in 2018.

Voluntary standard by Textile Exchange for sheep wool from animal-welfare-compliant husbandry and sustainable pastures — with full traceability back to the farm.

International social standard by Social Accountability International (SAI, New York) for humane working conditions in facilities — auditable and certifiable like a management system.

B2B micro-order of a physical sample before mass production, used to verify quality, colour, fit and decoration.

British non-profit platform (2004, London) with the world's most-used ethical audit format — four pillars: labour, health & safety, environment, business ethics.

Assortment approach with individually orderable tops and bottoms in different sizes - especially important in corporate wear and workwear so each person can be fitted precisely.

Four graduated classes within the STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX that define increasingly strict limit values for around 1,000 harmful substances depending on skin contact and target group (baby, skin, no skin contact, décor).

Globally uniform testing and certification system for textile raw, intermediate and end products regarding harmful substances.

Modular certification of sustainable production facilities in the textile and leather chain — assesses chemistry, environment, quality and social conditions of the factory.

List of substances of very high concern maintained by the EU chemicals agency ECHA under REACH — information duty from 0.1 % by mass in an article.

Precursor to RDS developed by Patagonia with stricter traceability and animal-welfare requirements — today a niche label with very high credibility.

Particularly strict down standard introduced by Patagonia in 2014, with full traceability down to individual parent birds and a ban on live-plucking including for parent flocks.

UN campaign against human trafficking — symbolised by the blue heart, raising awareness of forced labour also in the textile industry.

Term for garments intentionally cut in a gender-neutral way and wearable by men and women - standard for T-shirts, hoodies and corporate wear.

Deliberately aged look of new textiles featuring abrasions, holes, frayed edges and wash effects - especially on jeans, denim jackets and streetwear shirts.

Two meanings: genuine second-hand goods from a defined earlier era (at least 20 years old) or newly produced items styled to look old through targeted washing and finishing.

Robust functional clothing for craft, industrial and logistics working environments focusing on protection, durability, comfort and - when required - standard-compliant safety.

US-based factory certification for ethical, law-compliant and safe production in the garment and sewing industry, built on twelve principles.

Industry initiative of the ZDHC Foundation (Amsterdam) for the complete elimination of hazardous chemicals from textile, apparel and leather production — MRSL, wastewater limits, chemical gateway.