When you buy or consume organic products, you may have noticed that there are a large number of different labels that “guarantee” that you are buying organic cotton.

Some of these labels are directly created by the brands and others are awarded by certifying bodies that follow strict environmental criteria. While the labels created by the brands are not subject to any control, certified organic cotton is controlled at source and at the various stages of production, right up to the finished product by these same organisations and sometimes by external ones.

But why exactly should we get certified?

Cotton is the most polluting textile fibre in the world, because of the high consumption of fresh water, but above all because it consumes more than 25% of the world’s pesticides. However, thanks to its remarkable properties, it remains the most widely used and requested fibre by the inhabitants of our beautiful Earth.

A Certification is the only way to ensure traceability from the cotton field to the finished product and therefore to be 100% certain that it is organic cotton.

By deciding to launch our organic cotton bed linen brand in 2016, we could not have imagined doing it any other way than in organic cotton in order to best preserve our planet, its biodiversity and its people.

The experience acquired before Kalani allowed us to choose without hesitation the GOTS certification with ECOCERT as certifying organisation.

There are only two international certifications for organic cotton:

• Organic cotton certified OCS (Organic Content Standard)
• GOTS (Global Organic Cotton Standard)

OCS CERTIFIED ORGANIC COTTON:

The OCS label or certification (managed and controlled in the United States) certifies only that cotton is grown without GMOs, without chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides), and with traceability from the cotton fields to the final customer.

GOTS CERTIFIED ORGANIC COTTON:

The GOTS certification (managed and controlled in Germany) certifies as the previous one that cotton is grown without GMOs, without chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides), and with traceability from the cotton fields to the final customer including transaction certificates at each step.

But GOTS goes further and also provides:
• Reasonable and controlled water management for field irrigation in agricultural areas, where drought periods require artificial irrigation.
• The guarantee of respect for social working conditions based on the principles of the ILO (International Labour Organisation) and the UN (United Nations).
• The guarantee that GOTS certified finished products (home linen or clothing) have been manufactured (at all stages of production: spinning / weaving / dyeing / printing / printing / garment), without any toxic products; neither for the environment, nor for production workers nor for users.
• GOTS certification is the only one that requires certified brands to provide, during control audits, laboratory test reports proving that there is no trace of GMOs in the DNA of the cotton used, nor traces of pesticides and other toxic chemicals. These tests are complicated and expensive, but it is the only way to ensure that cotton is natural and harmless.

It is clear why GOTS is the most qualitative and the most reliable of all certifications.

And what about NOT certified “organic” cotton?

Unfortunately, uncertified organic cotton is often an illusion.
If we analyse the data collected by official bodies on the cultivation, production and sales of organic cotton products worldwide, we have found for many years that the sum of the declarations of sales of organic cotton products in the world far exceeds the production.

CQFD…. When a brand sells products made of uncertified organic cotton, there is unfortunately a good chance that their cotton is not really organic cotton.

An uncertified organic cotton product is prohibited for sale in some countries such as Germany.
It is also important to understand that uncertified “organic” cotton is often “chosen” by brands (small or large) that do not have the financial means or do not wish to invest in the certification process. But then they no longer have any way of verifying traceability, nor of proving that they are effectively selling products made from “organic” cotton.

As you will have understood, GOTS is undoubtedly the best certification, but it has a cost, and real constraints that are not always easy to manage every day. We made this choice at the beginning because we are convinced that this is the best way to do it and it is a guarantee of authenticity and quality that we want to offer you; to you who have chosen us to share 1/3 of your life ;).

Choose certified organic cotton, and if you have the choice, choose GOTS certified organic cotton, which is the only one that guarantees both the social conditions and the non-toxicity of cotton processing products, fabrics and finished products. Learn to recognize this logo:

Good night, in Kalani sheets, you are guaranteed to sleep on both ears…