What does it mean to be certified by GOTS?
Words like ‘organic,’ ‘sustainable,’ and ‘ethical’ have become ubiquitous within the world of business communication. Today, virtually all companies know about the benefits of taking responsibility and communicating it outwardly. They all know that consumers demand ethical behavior and of the importance of not appearing polluting, discriminating, or in any other way unethical or as refusing responsibility. The question is no longer whether companies convey their care for and interest in society and the environment, but to what degree these announcements are honest and real or subterfuge and pretense. Keeping in mind the strong motivation for appearing exemplary — or at least without too many red flags — their claims cannot simply be assumed true but must be documented and proved before consumers can be sure they’re not being sold a bill of goods.

How, then, are these claims documented and proved? How do consumers ensure the products they buy are in fact organic and manufactured in ethical and responsible ways? An excellent — perhaps the best — method is to look for the GOTS brand. GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) is an objective body that ensures a product is manufactured sensibly — as opposed to haphazardly — throughout the entire manufacturing process. Jet Sport’s certification inter alia proves that we do not engage in discrimination or child labor, that our employees work under safe and hygienic conditions, and that packaging, storage, and transportation of goods transpire in such ways that contamination of banned solutions or unintended substitution or misgauging of conventional products and/or components is avoided.

What does it take to be certified by GOTS?
As the world’s foremost textile processing standard, GOTS has ambitious objectives and comprehensive criteria for their fulfillment. The body aims to make organic textiles de rigueur and to refashion — pun intended — supply chains from callous to ethical and environmentally friendly. Achieving this necessitates that companies either fundamentally change, or from their onset are founded with an eye toward responsibility.

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Using organic fibers
GOTS wants to make organic fibers a significant part of our lives, and the first step on the path toward that vision is to use the purest materials. To Jet Sport this means printing our products naturally, i.e. without pesticides, hazardous chemicals, or GMO’s. This serves to protect farmers, wildlife, soil, and groundwater from harmful chemicals and their deleterious effects. To attain a GOTS certification, a fabric must consist of at least 70% organic fibers. The relevant percentage number can be seen on the fabric’s label. If the GOTS label, however, simply says ‘organic’ without an accompanying percentage number, the fabric is defined to consist of at least 95% organic fibers.

GOTS wants to revolutionize the global supply chain. The body wants to empower and reward workers who over multiple generations have been exploited through poor remuneration, long and unregulated work hours under dangerous conditions, child labor, and similar decrepitude. We list below a selection of GOTS’s social criteria. These are principles we have adopted in our desire to help rid the world of such regrettable, all too common, occurrences:

Forced labor
Child labor
No or limited freedom of organization and bargaining
Unfair compensation
Unregulated work hours
Inhumane treatment of workers
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Better for the planet
The textile industry is not just problematic for workers but for the environment and the well-being of our planet as well. The fact is that conventional (non-organic) cotton uses 10 times as much water as does organic cotton. Much of it goes to waste without treatment, causing chemical runoff and destruction of wildlife. Conventional cotton is further treated with some of the most harmful pesticides on offer, creating a hothouse for infertility, neurological ailments, and cancer. GOTS protects Earth and its population through processes and materials such as:

Organic raw materials — grown, harvested, and inspected.
No dangerous substances — harmful chemicals and pesticides are banned
Environmental control — wastewater is responsibly cleaned
Restrictions on additive substances — clear restrictions on non-organic fibers
Dyes and shrinking agents — inspected with an eye toward human and environmental well-being
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Sustainable all the way
GOTS’s criteria apply from the sowing of the first seed to the final product ready for you and your home. Every step is tracked and documented: From growing and weaving to treatment and trade. Ethical, sustainable, and organic quality standards are maintained throughout the process, ensuring that the finest possible products are manufactured in the most sustainable ways possible.

Are the criteria easily met? No. Are the benefits to our employees, customers, and the environment worth the effort? Most certainly.