Knowledge Lounge: GOTS at NEONYT in Berlin – January 15-17th 2019

A new name and a new concept – Neonyt brings together what was formerly known as the Greenshowroom and Ethical Fashion Show to showcase a hub for fashion, sustainability and innovation. This season’s topic is water - with a focus on the textile industry. GOTS has been an exhibitor for several years & is happy to continue to support NEONYT on its way. It invites brands to take part in the numerous opportunities this fair has to offer: whether the Fashionsustain conference, the blogger & influencer format, Prepeek, or to join in a chat with GOTS at the Knowledge Lounge. For appointments please contact Franziska Dormann and Lina Pfeifer .

Credit: Messe Frankfurt

Webinar: Organic Textile Labeling in the U.S. on December 6, 2018

Don’t miss this hour-long webinar on Organic Textile Labeling in the U.S. on Thursday, December 6, at 11 a.m. Eastern; 4 pm GMT, 5pm CET. Learn more about U.S. regulations in organic textile labeling, different kinds of organic claims, and how the Organic Content Standard (OCS) and Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) can be used to help support labeling organic textiles. The Organic Trade Association’s Vice President of Regulatory & Technical Affairs Gwendolyn Wyard will give the state of play in the U.S. regulations for organic labeling with a focus on textiles. Lori Wyman, GOTS North American Representative, will explain what claims are allowed for GOTS certified organic products. In addition, Textile Exchange’s Ashley Gill will cover the OCS and raw material content claims. 

Register: https://textileexchange.org/event/webinar-organic-textile-labeling-in-the-u-s/

Version 2.0 of GOTS Monitor (Water/Energy)

Version 2.0 of the software tool ‘GOTS Monitor (Water/Energy) is now available. The tool was developed on behalf of GOTS by Systainable Solutions to support the evaluation of factories’ compliance with the GOTS’ “Environmental management criteria”. GOTS Chapter 2.4.10 requires that operators need to have available and provide: 1. Data on energy and water consumption per kg of textile output and 2. Targets and procedures to reduce energy and water consumption per kg of textile output

Both requirements are covered by GOTS Monitor, as it determines actual performance and specific consumption values and provides realistic, factory-specific benchmark values that can be used both as improvement targets and milestones to monitor their progress.
Additional benefits for operators: Achieved improvements are presented both in environmental and in monetary terms and it also allows to compare own performance vis-à-vis global benchmarks from facilities doing similar processing on similar machinery.

Compared to the previous version (1.0), this new release:

• Is developed using state-of-the-art tools and methods
• Fixes any bug and shortcoming reported by its numerous users
• Has new, powerful operational features, increasing its user-friendliness, stability, scalability, portability and robustness
• Has a much simpler User Interface
• Uses a much simpler activation and licensing scheme
• Includes enhanced processing methods and tools knowledge base
• Utilizes much more accurate and extensive benchmarking methodology

This revamped tool is free to use for GOTS certified textile companies. Besides, they can opt in for 2 levels of expert consultancy services (including recommendations for improvement) from Systainable Solutions Ltd for a nominal fee. The details of Service Level 1 & 2 can be found within the tool under Administration tab.

 GOTS certified companies can download the set up file and installation manual from the link.

GOTS at 2018 International Organic EXPO in YOKOHAMA, Japan

The 17^th International Organic EXPO was held in PACIFICO Yokohama from 30th August to 1st September 2018. Over 160 exhibitors participated in the show and about 13.600 visitors attended during the 3 day period. The show is intended to increase B2B business opportunities and to educate consumers about organic. GOTS was an official supporter and also a member of the organizing committee. MIYOSHI Satoko, GOTS representative in Japan was a speaker for the Ethical labels seminar.

GOTS at Organic Lifestyle EXPO 2018 in Tokyo, Japan

GOTS was official supporter of 3rd Organic Lifestyle EXPO held on 22nd and 23rd September 2018 at Tokyo International Forum (Tokyo). GOTS had a booth, and was also co-organizer of Organic Cotton Craft Market Zone.
Miyoshi Satoko, GOTS representative in Japan was a speaker at the seminar "Organic Lifestyle to achieve SDGs" that was held on September 22nd. The venue was a huge success with more than 24,000 people visiting the EXPO in two days.

GOTS at International Expert Workshop on Biodiversity

The Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) and Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (ifeu) invited GOTS to an interactive ‘International Expert Workshop’ of global experts on ‘Maintaining Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Worldwide through Sustainable Consumption’ from 8-11 October 2018, held on the Isle of Vilm, Germany. GOTS Deputy Director Mr. Sumit Gupta participated and made a presentation on ‘The Role of Eco-Labels in Fostering Sustainable Consumption & Production’. The presentation was followed by a Panel Discussion on the same topic with representatives from IÖW, cotton and soybean sector.  

The key sectors in focus were Cotton, Soybean and Lithium. 24 international experts participated and presented about these industries and their related impact on biodiversity and environment. Key learnings include:

1. Patterns for loss of biodiversity, like deforestation, water pollution, etc. are similar in different industry sectors.
2. To contain loss of ecosystem services, immediate interventions by government and private players are necessary
3. Sustainability focused organisations must work together across product sectors and regions to protect the environment and ecosystem services.