How to Tell Real Organic from Greenwashing

Back in 2005, I launched my first company, Del Forte Denim. It was a US-made denim brand built around a simple idea: great jeans that didn’t cost the planet. We sourced organic cotton and manufactured domestically at a time when it was still possible to do that. For that first production run, I printed the inside of the waistband with two words I was proud of: Organic Denim.

Not long after, I met someone from Organic Exchange (now known as Textile Exchange) and she gently set me straight. There was no such thing as organic denim, she explained. Only cotton fiber could be certified organic. Because at the time, there was no certification process that covered the rest of the manufacturing steps — the spinning, the weaving, the dyeing, the finishing. The fiber might start organic, but once it entered the production chain, the story got murky fast. You couldn’t make a claim for the whole garment, because no standard existed to verify the whole garment. I went back and changed the waistband for the next production run — Organic Cotton.

Less than a year later, in 2006, the first GOTS standard was released. For the first time, a finished garment could actually be certified organic — not just the fiber, but the entire production process, end to end. For the first time, a shopper could trust that a garment was organic all the way through including the dyes and finishes that are in contact with their skin all day.

I’ve been watching GOTS evolve ever since, and nearly two decades later, we just completed our fifth annual GOTS audit at Mightly. I won’t pretend it’s fun, but when it’s over I feel a sense of satisfaction because it means we’re keeping our promise to our customers.

What the audit actually looks like

People throw around the word “organic” a lot. I want to talk about the difference between “organic” and “GOTS certified organic”.

The GOTS audit has three major components, all of them require planning, diligence and documentation.

Mass Balance. The auditor selects one of our SKUs — not one we chose, one they chose — and we have to prove, through receiving reports, inventory reports, and shipping records, that we can account for every single unit of that product over a defined period of time. Every unit in has to match every unit out. For a brand like Mightly, which only sells organic products, this can feel like overkill. But that’s exactly the point: certification means everyone plays by the same rules, whether you’re a small brand with a 100% organic line or a giant retailer with organic as a footnote.

Traceability. A different SKU gets selected at random. Then we have to build a complete documentary chain that follows that item from our warehouse back to the factory where it was made. The last document in this chain is the Transaction Certificate, which is the backbone of the GOTS system. From there, the documentation requirements pass on to our suppliers and their suppliers all the way back to the cotton farm. That is the part that matters most: every single step in the supply chain has to connect to the step before it, and it all has to be documented.

Communications review. The auditor goes through our labels, hang tags, website copy, and marketing materials with a fine-toothed comb to make sure every claim we’re making is compliant with GOTS standards. You can’t call something organic in a headline if the certification only covers part of the product. You can’t imply broader coverage than the standard allows. This part of the audit is a reminder that the certification isn’t just about what’s in the garment — it’s about honesty in how you talk about what’s in the garment.

The part people don’t expect: wages

GOTS certification also includes an evaluation of the wages paid to workers in the supply chain. They check that wages meet or exceed a living wage as determined by the MIT Living Wage Calculator or the Global Living Wage Calculator.

This is important to me in a way that goes beyond compliance. I’ve written before about why Fair Trade certification matters to us, and about the gender pay gap in the global garment industry. The through-line in all of it is the same: sustainability isn’t sustainability unless the people making the products are fairly compensated. An organic cotton t-shirt made by a worker who can’t afford to feed their family is not a sustainable product, it’s part of the problem.

Including living wage requirements in the GOTS standard is one of the reasons I take this certification seriously. It’s not just about what the fiber is made of. It’s about how the whole system operates.

Why we do this

Customer trust is our single most valuable asset.

I mean that in the most concrete way possible. The parents who shop with us are often dealing with something specific: a child with sensitive skin, a family trying to reduce their exposure to harmful chemicals, a commitment to not putting certain things on their kids’ bodies. They’re not just buying an item of clothing, they’re buying a promise. And if we can’t keep that promise, we are not going to keep our customers.

For us, the GOTS audit is an annual reaffirmation of our commitment to the families who depend on us. There are parents out there who don’t have the luxury of shrugging at an ingredient list — kids with eczema, sensory sensitivities, chemical allergies, or parents who’ve simply decided that what goes on their child’s skin matters as much as what goes in their body. We exist for them. The audit is how we make sure we’re still worthy of their trust.

— Tierra