Organic cotton | Beyond the label

In the fashion industry, organic cotton has become synonymous with eco-responsibility. Several brands claim to use this fiber in their products, but on clothing labels, certifications are scarce. Is the consumer doomed to trust the manufacturers?

Valerie Simard
Press

Organic cotton accounts for less than 1% of total cotton production, although demand has exploded in recent years.

H&M, Gap, Frank And Oak and many small brands around the world are promoting organic cotton in their products. Has this fiber been produced in accordance with organic standards from the field when it leaves the factory? For the consumer, it is difficult to see clearly. While several brands claim to use organic cotton, sometimes even certified, on the labels of clothing sold in stores or online, the logos of the two most recognized certifications for organic fiber (Organic Content Standard – OCS and Global Organic Textile Standard – GOTS ) are rare. Why ?

In the food industry in Canada, the organic designation is controlled and regulated. However, this is not the case with textiles. The composition of a garment can be identified as organic without this indication being verified by an independent body. “Eventually, the industry will end up regularizing,” believes Alexandre Lapointe, co-founder of Hardi, a Quebec company that produces GOTS-certified t-shirts in India, in partnership with Cotton Eco Fashion. It’s a prediction, but also a cry from the heart for this entrepreneur whose jerseys must compete with a host of others, not certified, available on the market.

“In food, you cannot say: there is organic sugar in my cake so my cake is organic”, illustrates Loïc de Fabritus Gautier, founder of Etik & Co, an online store that offers certified clothing GOTS and Fair Trade. “You can’t put an organic logo on a cake if it hasn’t been verified by an independent body. Why would it be any different for cotton? “

Only 13 companies based in Canada hold GOTS certification, according to the directory available on the organization’s website. “This is one of the reasons for the scarcity of products in stores,” underlines Vincent Duret, head of the textile section of Ecocert, a certification and verification body. “Canada is at the level where France was ten years ago. In Europe, there is renewed attention from brands and consumers who are demanding more transparency. ”

GOTS, the most demanding of the organic textile certifications, covers the transformation of the fiber, from the ginning to the final assembly of the textiles, which must be composed of a minimum of 70% organic natural fibers. These must also have been produced in accordance with local regulations relating to organic farming. At each stage, the chemical inputs used are checked. Criteria must also be met regarding the conditions of workers and the safety of products for consumers.

At the heart of this process is traceability. “If, in a factory, organic cotton enters through the left door and non-organic cotton through the right door, [sans certification il est] it’s hard to know what’s going on inside, ”continues Alexandre Lapointe.

Certified fibers, yes, but …

On their website, several Quebec brands claim to use a GOTS certified organic cotton fiber, without the final garment, which was assembled in an uncertified facility, either. A practice which is not permitted by Global Organic Textile Standard. “These companies are breaking GOTS rules,” said Lori Wyman, GOTS representative in North America, by email. The GOTS endorsement on finished products assures the consumer that every step of the processing supply chain has been certified. You may not make any reference to GOTS solely by using / purchasing certified materials. ”

Gold, ” [une certification], that represents a cost that small designers who are going to make small collections will not be ready to assume ”, remarks Loïc de Fabritus Gautier. Demand is so low in the country that Ecocert Canada does not currently have inspectors responsible for conducting audits for GOTS and OCS certifications. When necessary, it calls on its inspectors based in the United States.

Thus, faced with the lack of certified manufacturing facilities, companies like that of Alexandre Lapointe who wish to sell clothing bearing the GOTS certification have no other choice but to look abroad for their manufacture. “Of course I would like to be more local, I would like to be able to work more here, I would like to have fibers from here, but we are starting from afar,” he says.

“It’s really not a system that is made for small businesses,” laments Anne-Marie Laflamme, designer and co-founder of the Montreal brand atelier b, which only uses natural fibers, organic or not. “We decided instead to focus on our processes. We are in the process of obtaining our eco-responsible certification issued by Ecocert Canada and our B Corp certification to demonstrate that things over which we have control in our company, such as the quality of the working conditions of our employees and the management of waste at inside our manufacturing process, we do it well. ”

Anne-Marie Laflamme, Loïc de Fabritus Gautier and Alexandre Lapointe dream of regulations that would bring order to the mess of the name “organic fiber”. “We sometimes have great confidence in certain companies and there are certain companies who do it wholeheartedly, but if the chain has derailed before, sometimes they do not know it”, notes the latter.

Nor are certifications immune to derailment. In 2020, a GOTS investigation uncovered fraud against the Indian government’s certification system for organic cotton production. How can you be confident, then? “It’s always better than nothing at all,” answers Vincent Duret of Ecocert. This represents few cases compared to the fraud that may exist among those who are not certified. ”