New certification traces "organic" from fields to formals.

What’s the difference between a shirt made with organic cotton and an organic cotton T-shirt?

Plenty, according the latest certification launched by Oregon Tilth.

As part of a growing interest in chain-of-custody certification for textile manufacturing, Oregon Tilth announced in February it now offers certification to the American Organic Standards (AOS) for Fiber and Textile Handling, a standard developed by the Organic Trade Association.

Much like food handler and processor certification for organic foods, textile certification provides verification of materials and practices used to turn raw agriculture ingredients into finished products. Instead of tracing organic fruits, nuts, and grains as they’re turned into a snack bar, however, the new certification traces organic cotton, wool, and dyes as they’re made into a sweater.

Like food processing, textile manufacturing is a complicated process, and the textile certification has numerous components. But it doesn’t seem likely to stop many interested parties from pursuing the certification.

“There is a developing interest in certification of a product, over just a generic claim that it’s got organic content,” said Fred Ehlert, an independent organic inspector who helped Oregon Tilth with its fiber certification program.

Harmony Susalla, a Gualala, Calif.-based designer, said she hopes to have her collection of organic cotton prints certified under the new standard [see "Harmony prints" SIJ, March 2006].

Susalla’s organic cotton is already certified, but she said there’s still “the ginner, the weaver, the prepare-for-printer, the printer, the finisher, the fold and roll plant...” to be certified. “It’s going to be a long process to get all the different players certified,” she said.
Oregon Tilth said it is confident the certification will be a success. “It’s just one more place where the industry’s growing,” said Connie Karr, Oregon Tilth’s processing program coordinator.

Ehlert agreed. “It’s just going to be exactly like it was for food processing,” he said. “Ten years ago the logistics of finding somebody that could make a multi-ingredient soup for you were harrowing ... Now it’s big enough in the organic industry that it’s a no-brainer.”
Textile certification has the added difficulty of tracing its products around the globe, Ehlert added. “Following a garment from its raw ingredient to a retailer’s shelf is amazing,” he said. “The number of countries a T-shirt can go through can be a totally worldwide sort of a trip.”

In March, the Organic Trade Assocation voted to adopt the Global Organic Textile Standard by September 2006. Oregon Tilth will begin certifying to the global standards when the OTA adoption process is complete, according to John Foster, Oregon Tilth’s executive director.

There are two key differences between AOS and the global stanards, he said. The global standards use a different process for approving dyes for use, and also include a labor component that was not part of AOS.

Foster said he believes including labor issues will be important for U.S. producers. “Labor issues have an importance to the world community that hasn’t made it into the American market,” Foster said. “I’d hate to see American organic products be sidelined.”

The global standards also expand the range of organic certifications allowed for agricultural materials. Previously, AOS allowed only products certified by the U.S. National Organic Program.

Oregon Tilth said several companies have already begun completing applications. Some of those hope to receive certification by the All Things Organic trade show in May, Foster said.