California Leads U.S. in Eco-Friendly Textile Cos.
California is one of the leaders of eco-friendly textile manufacturing in the United States, according to a database published recently by Global Organic Textile Standard, one of the world’s leading eco-certification agencies. GOTS awards its certification to companies following strict guidelines of organically harvesting and sourcing materials, which in turn are manufactured in methods deemed eco- and labor-friendly.
The German-based GOTS recently published on its Web site (www.global-standard.org/public-database.html) a database of textile companies that are GOTS-certified. California is home to seven of the 16 GOTS-certified textile companies and factories based in America. Worldwide, 2,811 textile companies and factories received GOTS certification in 2009. The top three countries with the most GOTS-certified textile plants are India, Turkey and China. These countries reportedly devote the world’s largest acreage to organic cotton.
The California companies that received GOTS certification were Econscious, Acme Felt Works, Organic Mattresses Inc., OMI, Pacific Continental Textiles Inc., Sage Creek Organics, Under the Nile and Woolgatherer Carding Mill.
There’s a growing market for organic cotton and eco-friendly textiles. Global retail sales of organic-cotton products reached $3.8 billion in 2008, according to Texas-based nonprofit Organic Exchange. However, it takes effort to manufacture organic goods.
For example, if a machine’s petroleum-based lubricant has contact with organic cotton, then the cotton cannot be certified as organic, said Lori Wyman, who certifies organic materials. Machine parts touching cotton must be maintained with vegetable-based lubricant or beeswax. Wyman is certification and outreach manager for Control Union Certifications, part of the North American division of Peterson Control Union, headquartered in the Netherlands.
Wyman said the costs to outfit a textile plant with organic machines depend on the size and scale of the facility; however, she did not give an estimate to the expense of organic conversation.
A spokesperson at Acme Felt Works, one of the GOTS-certified California companies, said eco-friendly manufacturing did not require conducting business in a completely new way. “Once we understood what was required, and once we did it several times, it was easier to do,” said Steve Stone, an Acme Felt Works manager.—Andrew Asch
