For over two decades, the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) has served as a global benchmark for environmentally and socially responsible textile production. Alongside its well-known environmental requirements, GOTS has long incorporated comprehensive social criteria, continuously refined through successive versions of the standard. With the release of GOTS Version 7.0 in March 2023, a major step was taken to further enhance its social and human rights dimension by embedding internationally recognised frameworks for human rights due diligence, specifically the OECD Guidelines and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).
This was not a change of direction, but a continuation and deepening of GOTS’s long-standing commitment to responsible business conduct. The revision process that led to Version 7.0 was guided by a clear objective: to provide a structured, risk-based due diligence framework that meets the growing expectations of regulators, civil society, and textile supply chain actors.
The process had already begun in earlier versions. GOTS Version 6.0 included general references to the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector, encouraging Certified Entities to consider internationally recognised frameworks. However, these references remained broad and were not yet integrated as operational criteria. In 2021, Global Standard gGmbH, the organisation behind GOTS, made a strategic decision to more systematically incorporate these frameworks into the structure of the standard. This involved strengthening internal capacity on business and human rights, engaging external experts, and developing clearer implementation structures for companies throughout the supply chain.
One of the most visible outcomes of this process was the introduction of Section 4.1 on due diligence management systems in Version 7.0. The goal was to translate complex international frameworks into practical, auditable criteria that would help companies identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for adverse human rights and social impacts. GOTS has integrated this concept as a core of the standard and reaffirmed its ambition to support meaningful, risk-based due diligence practices at all levels of the supply chain.
The expanded due diligence framework strengthened GOTS’s social and human rights focus by integrating internationally recognised frameworks. To ensure that this updated approach aligned with global expectations and to provide Certified Entities and stakeholders with additional confidence, Global Standard inquired with the OECD about the possibility of carrying out an independent alignment assessment. This move was part of a broader effort to position GOTS not only as a robust certification for sustainable textile production, but also as a reference point for credible, risk-based due diligence practices in line with the OECD Guidelines and UNGPs.
Following the release of version 7.0, Global Standard reached out to the OECD to initiate the assessment. However, the OECD initially lacked the financial and human resources to undertake the exercise. Around the same time, discussions were taking place within the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles (PST) on how industry schemes could support companies in meeting their due diligence obligations. The PST Strategic Working Group on Due Diligence developed a set of criteria to benchmark the schemes which were seeking recognition from PST. However, the peer review approach towards such assessment did not offer the level of rigour needed to evaluate complex due diligence criteria. Global Standard strongly advocated for an expert-led review, highlighting that the OECD was the only reputable international body capable of conducting such an assessment.
A breakthrough came in June 2023, when the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) decided to financially support the OECD in their pilot project to conduct standard-only assessment of GOTS and several other industry initiatives. The objective of the project was to evaluate the alignment of selected industry initiatives with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance through a structured, criteria-based assessment process.
The formal assessment process began in July 2023. During the kick-off meeting, the OECD shared its Alignment Assessment Tool with the Global Standard team. The Alignment Assessment Tool consisted of 171 criteria and detailed interpretive notes. Global Standard had already started developing its due diligence guidance well before the OECD assessment was launched, but the launch of the assessment process provided additional focus and momentum to finalise and formalise this work. In a focused two-month effort, Global Standard developed the GOTS Due Diligence Handbook for Certified Entities. Drawing on internal expertise, external experts, and global stakeholder input, the GOTS Due Diligence Handbook for Certified Entities was published on 14 September 2023. Just ten days later, on 24 September, Global Standard submitted its completed Alignment Assessment Tool to the OECD. That date was confirmed as the formal cut-off for the scope of the assessment.
The following months were marked by intense dialogue with the OECD assessors. In February 2024, Global Standard received the initial assessment results. The feedback was broadly positive and acknowledged the depth and structure of GOTS’s due diligence framework. Nonetheless, certain scoring decisions prompted further analysis. Global Standard undertook a detailed review of the assessors’ feedback and methodology, raising questions about the extent to which OECD recommendations needed to be codified as binding criteria, and the status of the explanatory notes within the tool.
In subsequent exchanges, Global Standard and the OECD explored ways to improve clarity and address misinterpretations. It was agreed that limited wording changes would be permitted to ensure better alignment between the GOTS criteria and OECD expectations. These adjustments were carefully incorporated and reflected in the GOTS Due Diligence Handbook for Certified Entities Version 1.1 and the Manual for the Implementation of GOTS Version 7.2 released on 23 September 2024. Some of the changes introduced, including substantive improvements to the GOTS Complaints Procedure aimed at closer alignment with the UNGPs’ effectiveness criteria, were not considered within the scope of the assessment because they were introduced after the cut-off date and went beyond agreed “minor wording changes”.
The final results of the OECD assessment were published in the report Alignment Assessment of the Global Organic Textile Standard with OECD Due Diligence Standards. The report indicated that 69 percent of the criteria were assessed as fully aligned, 29 percent as partially aligned, and only 2 percent as non-aligned. Notably, all criteria related to the OECD’s six-step due diligence process, the core of the due diligence process, were either fully or partially aligned. The few non-aligned criteria were already under review or addressed through ongoing improvements. One OECD criterion remained a point of disagreement, specifically the expectation that GOTS recognisea the outcomes of assessments conducted by other schemes. Global Standard maintains that the recognition of other schemes can only occur after in-depth benchmarking and alignment of criteria and assurance mechanisms. Without such in-depth analysis, automatic recognition would have undermined the integrity of the standard’s assurance system. At the same time, Global Standard recognises the need to increase efficiency for certified companies by avoiding overlapping certifications and is actively exploring effective solutions to support that objective.
The assessment conducted by the OECD was more than a technical review. It represented an opportunity to validate and strengthen the GOTS due diligence approach, laying a foundation for continuous improvement and increased trust among stakeholders. The OECD report reaffirmed GOTS’s long-standing commitment to supporting responsible business conduct in the textile sector by combining organic and environmental criteria with a robust, risk-based human rights due diligence system.
Finally, with over 16,000 Certified Entities in more than 80 countries, GOTS serves as one of the most influential drivers of responsible business conduct in the textile industry. The assessment confirmed that it is also one of the most OECD-aligned industry standards, offering companies not just a label, but a comprehensive framework for sustainable and responsible supply chain management.
The full OECD Alignment Assessment Report is available here.
The full statement from Global Standard on the Alignment Assessment is available here.
Dr. Ruslan Alyamkin
Responsible, Standard Development and Implementation (Social Responsibility)