The GOTS accreditation system is based upon the principles of ISO / IEC Guide 17065: 2012 “Conformity assessment - Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services”. It specifically references the International Requirements for Organic Certification Bodies (IROCB), as by the International Task Force on Harmonization and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture (ITF, follow up project GOMA) convened by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Since certification according to GOTS has certain features which differ from the certification of products and services covered by ISO / IEC Guide 17065 (eg an assessment of management systems such as environmental management and social criteria) and IROCB (which was mainly developed for organic food products), it also includes sector- and GOTS-specific requirements.

The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) is a certification program initiated in Europe with the task of sustainable cotton production, focusing on social issues such as environment, economy, quality, ethics and business. Operate producer training and evaluation systems to help small producers produce cotton in a sustainable way.

The COTTON USA license certification program is for products of factories, manufacturers, wholesalers, brands and retailers that handle cotton (clothing, household textiles, nonwovens), and the ingredients of the products must contain 50% or more of US cotton. The Cotton USA mark can be affixed to it.

The Global Recycle Standard (GRS) was originally developed by Control Union Certifications in 2008 and ownership was passed to the Textile Exchange on 1 January 2011. The GRS is an international, voluntary, full product standard that sets requirements for third-party certification of recycled content, chain of custody, social and environmental practices and chemical restrictions.

Engineered Fiber Selection
The ENGINEERED FIBER SELECTION® (EFS®) System Suite of software is a cotton logistics, evaluation, and optimization package designed to improve the profitability of cotton from the time it leaves the bale press until it is made into yarn. Industry leading cotton gins and merchants in the United States, and spinning mills worldwide all reap the benefits of EFS® System Software and use it to put the right cotton in the right place at the right time.

The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol® sets a new standard for more sustainably grown cotton.
It brings quantifiable and verifiable goals and measurement to sustainable cotton production and drives continuous improvement in key Sustainability metrics.