The Global Organic Textile Standard, or GOTS for short, is recog-

nised as the world’s leading processing standard for textiles made

from certified organically produced raw materials. With strict envi-

ronmental and social criteria across the entire supply chain, products

made from GOTS certified materials, such as organic cotton, are

manufactured without the use of hazardous chemicals, protecting

biodiversity, farm and factory workers, as well as the end consumer.

ferm LIVING has been GOTS certified since 2017 and offers a range

of GOTS certified cotton products. Working with certifications such

as GOTS, we are committed to responsible production and want to

ensure safe and fair working conditions in our supply chain, as well as

responsibly produced products of high quality.

From farm to fabric

A farmer growing GOTS certified materials such as cotton, silk, linen

or bamboo has a highly restricted list of chemicals permitted for use

in production in order to protect both soil and animal welfare. There

are also strict requirements when it comes to water usage, which in-

cludes the responsible treatment and recycling of wastewater. We

paid a visit to our largest manufacturer of GOTS certified cotton

products in the Tamil Nadu region of Southern India, with whom

we have been partners since 2008. We take you behind the scenes to

show how raw organic cotton is transformed into beautiful, GOTS

certified textile designs.

Organic raw cotton arrives at the spinning mills in compressed

blocks, each weighing 145kg. From here, the first of many stages of

cleaning begins. Cotton is filtered for shells and other foreign mate-

rials before being fed through a tube into a machine that blows high-

velocity air through the cotton, separating compressed particles and

removing any dirt. The cotton is then run through a metal detector

and fed through a series of mixing machines to ensure the particles

are evenly distributed. This process is repeated, after which the cot-

ton is hand sorted to remove any remaining debris. On average, each

100kg of raw cotton yields 90kg of clean cotton that is ready to be

spun into fabric.

The cotton particles are then fed through a carding machine and com-

pressed into a flat sheet, which is cut into strips that resemble coarse

threads. These are then fed through a comb-like machine which sep-

arates and cleans the fibres, which are mixed together again. This

process is repeated, after which the fibres are flattened and carded

again to ensure consistency, uniformity and durability. These fibres

are spun onto spools, resulting in the cleanest, finest cotton yarn. As

a final step in the spinning mills, the spools are placed in a UV light

122

Our Production

From Farm

to Fabric

We take you behind the scenes of our

organic textile production.