Textile Exchange

"Integrity is what we do, what we say, and what we say we do."
~ Don Galer

The purpose of the Integrity Platform at TE is to ensure that all of the work that is done towards sustainability in the textile industry is genuine and leads to real and meaningful change.

Individuals, companies and organizations are committing enormous energy and resources to bring greater sustainability to the textile industry, and many significant improvements have come along as a result; fibers are being grown organically, materials are being recycled, non-renewable resources are being replaced by renewable ones, fewer and less toxic chemicals are used, emissions are reduced and energy, water and inputs are all being used more efficiently. However, in order for these efforts to be effective, they must be built on a foundation of integrity.

Integrity can be defined as business practices that are consistent with publicly stated principles. In the case of creating a more sustainable textile industry, all of the actions being taken and claims being made must be truthful and reflect relevant positive change.

Without integrity along the full supply chain, companies are at risk; they may not be getting what they have paid for, and the claims they are making about themselves or their products may not be true, leading to potential brand risk and even legal implications. 

Integrity in business is about more than just purity of intentions: it means understanding and taking all of the necessary steps to ensure that positive change is being achieved for the environment and/or communities. This involves understanding the sustainability issues being addressed, having a life-cycle approach[1], and taking steps to verify the truth and accuracy of all claims being made, and being transparent.

Textile Exchange sees integrity as core to the successful growth of the sustainable textile industry, and we support industry integrity through tool development, education, information sharing and collaboration with key stakeholders. At the center of our efforts is the work we do on certification: we have developed a number of standards to address gaps that existed in product claim verification, we support supply chain transparency and traceability, we work with certification bodies and industry stakeholders to identify and address issues,  and we have created numerous resources that explain the certification process and the responsibilities of the different players. We are continually reaching out at conferences, tradeshows and to individual companies to promote and explain the different aspects of standards, certification and integrity.

To date, TE’s main efforts around certification include:

Standards
 - OE 100 and OE Blended standards to support organic fiber content claims
 - Global Recycle Standard for recycled content combined with social and environmental requirements
 - Promotion of the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and collaboration with the International Working Group for GOTS
 - Development of a centralized system to generate and record transaction certificates, allowing for tracking back to the fiber source (work still in process)
 - Development of the Content Claim Standard to verify raw material claims in final products (work still in process)

Training and Education
 - Guides and brochures on labeling laws, standards, and the certification process
 - Resource to textile companies and organizations needing support or guidance on certification issues
 - Presentations at industry events, and participation in other organizations initiatives

Stakeholder Engagement
 - Founding partner of the Consortium on Organic Cotton Integrity, researching organic certification issues in India and taking direction actions to address problem areas
 - Partnering in a study to evaluate the cost and effectiveness of certification and/or a tracking service

In addition, Textile Exchange is constantly working to ensure that sustainability issues are well understood and thoroughly addressed so companies can make decisions with real and positive impacts. Our efforts range from the information available on our website, to specific projects for individual companies.