India, the largest producer of organic cotton in the world is all set to have an Indian Standard for Organic Textiles (ISOT) of its own. The unique selling proposition (USP) of this standard is that it will cover the life cycle of the cotton fibre right from crop to clothing. This is different to GOTS which is primarily concerned with the growing stage of cotton, and only includes minimum regulations for the subsequent manufacturing stages.
From the Indian perspective, GOTS does not permit to maintain traceability and integrity of organic textiles.
The Indian Standards for Organic Textiles (ISOT), which were launched by Commerce, Industry and Textiles Minister Anand Sharma, would be included under the National Programme for Organic Productions (NPOP).
“By introducing ISOT, India took over the long-standing position of the Global Organic Textiles standards (GOTS), which are private standards prevailing in the organic textiles industry,” Commerce Secretary S R Rao said at a function organised by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority of India (APEDA).
India is the only country in the world to have introduced organic textiles standards at the national level.
Further information:
- Press release by Fibre2Fashion.
- India’s National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP)
- Article in India’s Economic Times
- Global Organic Textiles Standard (GOTS)
