Eco Certifications for Printed Clothing: GOTS, OEKO-TEX, REACH and Fair Wear Explained

A customer emailed us last month with a spreadsheet. She’d listed every certification she could find on garment supplier websites and wanted to know which ones actually meant something. Twenty-three rows. Some of the “certifications” turned out to be made-up logos the suppliers had designed themselves.

That email is why this guide exists. If you’re running a clothing brand, selling printed merch, or buying custom workwear for your company, you’ve probably hit the same wall. The labels on blank garments read like alphabet soup: GOTS, OEKO-TEX, REACH, Fair Wear, OCS, GRS, B Corp. Some cost thousands to get. Some mean the fabric won’t give your customers a rash. Some mean the person who sewed it was paid fairly. And some mean almost nothing at all.

We print on certified blanks every day at Brandum. We stock organic and eco-friendly garments alongside our standard range, and we field questions about certifications weekly. This guide breaks down what each certification actually covers, what it doesn’t cover, and which ones matter most depending on what you’re trying to do.

Why Eco Certifications Actually Matter for Printed Clothing

There are two practical reasons to care about this, and neither of them is “because it makes you feel warm and fuzzy.”

The first is legal. If you’re selling clothing in the UK, your products need to comply with UK REACH regulations. That’s not optional. The chemicals in your fabric, your dyes, and your print transfers all fall under this. The Health and Safety Executive is the enforcement body, and fines for non-compliance can hit £20,000.

The second is commercial. Your customers are asking about this stuff. We get it in our inbox constantly: “Are your inks eco-friendly?” “Is this t-shirt organic?” “Can I put OEKO-TEX on my label?” A 2024 survey by the Soil Association found that 68% of UK consumers say sustainability claims influence their purchasing decisions for clothing. Whether or not you agree with every certification out there, ignoring the question loses you sales.

And then there’s the regulatory direction. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority started sending warning letters to fashion brands about misleading green claims in 2025. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 gives the CMA power to fine companies up to 10% of global turnover for dodgy environmental claims. That includes small brands. If you say “eco-friendly” on your website and can’t back it up with something specific, you’re exposed.

GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard)

GOTS is the heavyweight. If a garment carries a GOTS label, it means the organic fibre, the chemicals used in processing, the environmental management of the factory, and the working conditions of the people making it have all been independently audited. It’s the only major textile certification that tries to cover all of those things under one standard.

Version 7.0 launched in March 2024, and version 8.0 was under public consultation through September 2025 with release expected in 2026. The updates have been tightening traceability requirements and adding mandatory GMO and pesticide residue testing at the cotton gin stage.

What GOTS actually requires

There are two tiers. A product labelled “GOTS Organic” must contain at least 95% certified organic fibres. A product labelled “GOTS Made with Organic” needs at least 70%. Both tiers ban a long list of toxic chemicals including formaldehyde, aromatic solvents, functional nanoparticles, and GMOs. Dyes and auxiliaries have to meet biodegradability and toxicity thresholds. Factories must have wastewater treatment systems in place and demonstrate an environmental management policy.

On the social side, GOTS requires compliance with International Labour Organisation conventions. That means no child labour, no forced labour, safe working conditions, and the right to collective bargaining. The standard was assessed against the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector and found to closely align.

What GOTS does not cover

This is the bit that trips people up. GOTS doesn’t measure the carbon footprint of the supply chain. A GOTS-certified t-shirt shipped by air freight from Bangladesh still has a massive transport footprint. GOTS also doesn’t test the finished product for harmful substances the way OEKO-TEX does. It regulates the inputs (what chemicals are allowed in processing) rather than testing the outputs (what’s actually in the fabric you’re wearing). Those are different things.

And GOTS only applies when the fibre is organic. You can’t GOTS-certify a standard polyester hoodie, no matter how clean your factory is.

Cost and process

Getting GOTS certified costs roughly $1,200–$3,000 per year per facility (£1,000–£2,500 at current exchange rates), plus audit fees. Every entity in the supply chain that handles the product needs its own certification. That means the cotton farm, the spinner, the weaver, the dyer, the cut-and-sew factory, and potentially you as a printer all need to be certified independently. For small brands, this adds up fast.

How to verify a GOTS claim

Every GOTS-certified product should have a licence number. You can plug that number into the GOTS public database and see exactly which entity holds the certificate, what products they’re certified for, and when the certificate expires. If a supplier tells you their garments are GOTS certified but can’t give you a licence number that shows up in the database, walk away.

OEKO-TEX Standard 100

If GOTS is about how the garment was made, OEKO-TEX Standard 100 is about what’s in the garment you’re actually wearing. It’s a product-safety certification. An independent lab tests the finished textile for over 1,000 substances known to be harmful to human health, including things like formaldehyde, certain azo dyes, phthalates, heavy metals like lead and cadmium, and pesticide residues.

OEKO-TEX has been around since 1992 and is administered by a group of 17 independent research institutes across Europe and Japan. As of late 2025, over 21,000 certificates had been issued in more than 100 countries. It’s the most widely used textile safety label in the world.

Product classes

This is the part that matters if you’re printing baby clothes or children’s wear. OEKO-TEX Standard 100 has four product classes, each with different testing thresholds:

Class I covers products for babies and toddlers up to 36 months. The limits here are the strictest. If you’re printing bibs, babygrows, or anything for very young children, this is the class that applies. Class II covers items worn in direct skin contact like t-shirts, underwear, and bed linen. Class III covers items without direct skin contact like jackets and coats. Class IV covers furnishing materials.

Most of the blank garments we work with at Brandum are certified under Class II (direct skin contact). For baby and children’s wear, check that the specific garment you’re ordering has Class I certification, not just Class II.

What OEKO-TEX doesn’t cover

It doesn’t certify whether the cotton was organic. It doesn’t audit the factory’s environmental management. It doesn’t check working conditions. It’s purely a chemical safety test on the finished product. A garment made in a sweatshop from conventionally grown cotton using lots of water and pesticides could pass OEKO-TEX Standard 100 perfectly, as long as the final product doesn’t contain harmful substances above the limit values.

That’s not a criticism, just important to understand the scope. OEKO-TEX does one thing, and it does it thoroughly. But if your customers care about organic farming, worker welfare, or carbon footprint, you’ll need other certifications working alongside it.

OEKO-TEX and printing inks

Here’s where it gets relevant for us specifically. The DTF inks we use at Brandum (DuPont Artistri range) are certified under OEKO-TEX Standard 100. That means the ink itself has been independently tested and found safe for prolonged skin contact, including for children’s clothing and babywear. The TPU adhesive powder used in DTF transfers is also available in OEKO-TEX certified grades.

But (and this is important) OEKO-TEX certification on the ink doesn’t automatically certify the finished printed garment. The certification applies to the specific component that was tested. If you want to claim the entire garment is OEKO-TEX certified, the blank garment needs its own certificate too. Most of the blanks from suppliers like Stanley/Stella, Fruit of the Loom, and Gildan carry OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certification, but always check the specific style.

How to verify

Every OEKO-TEX certificate has a number. Go to the OEKO-TEX Label Check, enter the certificate number, and you can see the certificate holder, product class, testing institute, and expiry date. Certificates are valid for one year and need to be renewed annually.

REACH Compliance in the UK After Brexit

REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. The EU version has been in force since 2007. When the UK left the EU, it created its own version called UK REACH, administered by the Health and Safety Executive rather than the European Chemicals Agency.

Here’s the key difference from the other certifications on this page: UK REACH is a legal requirement, not a voluntary badge. If you manufacture or import products into Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales; Northern Ireland still follows EU REACH under the Windsor Framework), those products must comply with UK REACH restrictions on hazardous substances. This applies to clothing, textiles, inks, dyes, and all the chemicals used in printing.

What does REACH actually restrict in clothing?

The restrictions that matter most for printed clothing include limits on azo dyes that release carcinogenic amines (banned above 30mg/kg), nickel release from metal fittings like buttons and zips, formaldehyde in fabric finishes, certain flame retardants, and a long list of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs). The REACH Candidate List is a rolling list of substances under review, and it gets updated regularly.

For DTF printing specifically, the relevant restrictions apply to the ink pigments, the TPU adhesive powder, and any finishing chemicals. If you’re buying DTF transfers from a UK-based supplier like us, the compliance burden is on us as the manufacturer. If you’re importing transfers directly from overseas, REACH compliance becomes your responsibility as the importer.

UK REACH vs EU REACH after Brexit

Right now, the two systems are nearly identical in substance restrictions because UK REACH was basically a copy-paste of the EU version at the point of separation. But they’re diverging gradually as each side updates its lists independently. The UK REACH registration deadlines have been pushed back several times. The current deadlines are October 2026 for high-volume/high-concern substances, October 2028 for the next tier, and October 2030 for the rest.

If you’re selling into both the UK and EU markets, you need to comply with both versions. For most printed clothing, the substance restrictions are still aligned enough that compliance with one effectively covers the other. But that gap will widen over time, so it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Fair Wear Foundation

Fair Wear is the odd one out on this list because it doesn’t certify products or factories. It’s a membership organisation for clothing brands. When a brand joins Fair Wear, it commits to having its supply chain conditions verified and progressively improved against eight labour standards derived from ILO conventions and the UN Declaration on Human Rights.

Those eight standards cover: employment is freely chosen, no discrimination, no exploitation of child labour, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, payment of a living wage, reasonable hours of work, safe and healthy working conditions, and a legally binding employment relationship.

How Fair Wear actually works

Fair Wear audits the brand, not the factory directly. They conduct annual Brand Performance Checks, scoring each member out of 100. Brands that score above 75 earn “Leader” status and can use the Fair Wear logo in their marketing. Brands below that threshold are still members but can’t use the logo on products.

The whole system is built on the idea that improving factory conditions is a shared responsibility between brands and their suppliers. Fair Wear publishes all Brand Performance Check reports publicly, so you can actually look up any member brand and see their score, what they’re doing well, and where they’re falling short.

Fair Wear is headquartered in the Netherlands and is currently active in 11 production countries including Bangladesh, India, Turkey, Vietnam, and Indonesia. To join, a brand needs to be based in Europe, have minimum annual turnover of €10 million, and source more than 50% of products from Fair Wear countries or low-risk countries.

What Fair Wear doesn’t do

It doesn’t test chemicals. It doesn’t check whether the cotton is organic. It doesn’t certify individual garments or factories. You won’t see a “Fair Wear certified” label on a t-shirt the way you’d see a GOTS label. It’s a brand-level commitment to improving labour conditions, not a product-level guarantee.

Blank garment suppliers like Stanley/Stella are Fair Wear members. If you buy a Stanley/Stella t-shirt and print on it at Brandum, your customer gets a garment from a Fair Wear member supply chain. But you as the printer aren’t “Fair Wear certified.” The certification applies to the brand that manufactured the blank.

B Corp Certification for Clothing Businesses

B Corp is different again. It doesn’t certify a product or a supply chain. It certifies an entire business against a set of social and environmental performance standards. The certification is administered by the non-profit B Lab and covers five areas: governance, workers, community, environment, and customers.

To become a B Corp, a company needs to score at least 80 out of 200 on the B Impact Assessment, amend its legal governing documents to consider the interests of all stakeholders (not just shareholders), and pay an annual certification fee based on revenue. The assessment is comprehensive and time-consuming. Most companies take 6–12 months to complete it.

In the UK clothing space, Baukjen was the first British fashion brand to achieve B Corp status. Others include Finisterre and Rapanui. For smaller brands, the process can feel overwhelming, but B Lab has introduced a streamlined assessment pathway for businesses with revenues under $150,000.

The practical value for a printed clothing business is mostly marketing credibility. B Corp has good consumer recognition, especially among the demographics most likely to pay a premium for ethical products. But it’s an expensive and complex certification to maintain, and it certifies your business practices rather than the specific garments.

How to Verify Certifications (And Spot Fakes)

Every legitimate certification has a public database. This table gives you the direct verification links:

If a supplier can’t give you a verifiable certificate number, that’s your answer. Don’t accept screenshots of logos, PDF certificates without reference numbers, or verbal assurances.

Certificates expire. OEKO-TEX certificates are valid for one year. GOTS certificates need annual renewal with on-site audits. A certificate from 2022 might be meaningless in 2026 if it wasn’t renewed. Always check the issue and expiry dates.

Greenwashing Red Flags in the Clothing Industry

The UK’s CMA sent warning letters to 17 fashion brands in 2025 about misleading sustainability claims. The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled against Nike, Superdry, and Lacoste for using terms like “sustainable” without adequate substantiation. The regulatory environment has teeth now.

Here are the specific red flags to watch for when evaluating suppliers or marketing your own products:

Vague language with no certification backing. Words like “eco-friendly,” “conscious,” “green,” “natural,” and “sustainable” have no legal definition. Unless they’re paired with a specific, verifiable certification, they mean whatever the brand wants them to mean. The Changing Markets Foundation found that up to 96% of green claims by certain fast fashion brands couldn’t be substantiated.

Highlighting one component while ignoring the rest. A t-shirt described as “made with recycled polyester” might contain 30% recycled polyester and 70% virgin polyester. The claim is technically true but designed to make you think the product is greener than it is. The CMA’s Green Claims Code explicitly says claims must consider the full product lifecycle.

Made-up certification logos. Some suppliers create their own green-looking logos that resemble real certifications but aren’t administered by any independent body. If you don’t recognise a certification logo, search for it. If there’s no independent certifying body behind it, it’s just a sticker.

“Carbon neutral” claims based purely on offsets. The EU is moving toward banning unqualified carbon-neutral claims in marketing from 2026. The UK is expected to follow a similar direction. If a brand claims carbon neutrality but hasn’t demonstrably reduced its actual emissions, the offset credits don’t make the claim credible.

Sustainability collections within fast fashion. A brand that releases 10,000 new styles per week and labels 200 of them as a “sustainable collection” hasn’t changed anything meaningful. If the overall production volume keeps climbing, a green sub-range is a marketing exercise.

Quick Comparison: What Each Certification Actually Covers

What Certifications Do Brandum’s Blanks Carry?

We stock garments from a range of suppliers, and the certifications vary by brand and style. Here’s what you’ll typically find across our range:

Stanley/Stella — the blanks we use most for premium and streetwear-oriented jobs. GOTS certified (organic cotton styles), OEKO-TEX Standard 100, Fair Wear Foundation member, and Peta-Approved Vegan. These tick the most boxes of any supplier in our range. They’re more expensive (typically £5–£8 for a basic tee before printing) but customers who care about certifications are usually willing to pay the premium.

Fruit of the Loom — OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified across their range. Some organic cotton styles available. Good mid-range option when the budget needs to stay tighter than premium organics but you still want chemical safety certification. We use these a lot for event runs and custom hoodie printing where the order size pushes customers toward value blanks.

Gildan — OEKO-TEX Standard 100 on most styles. Gildan has its own sustainability programme (Gildan Respects) but it’s a self-administered initiative rather than an independent third-party certification. Good budget blank, perfectly compliant with safety standards, but not the one to reach for if your customer specifically wants organic or independently certified ethical production.

Casual Classics — Several styles carry OEKO-TEX Standard 100 and BCI Cotton (Better Cotton Initiative) certification alongside AMFORI BSCI and WRAP social compliance. We’ve written about these in our guide to choosing blank garments for DTF printing.

DTF inks and materials — Our DuPont Artistri DTF inks are OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified. The TPU adhesive powder we use is from an OEKO-TEX certified source. We’ve written about the environmental profile of DTF printing in our guide to what DTF printing is and how it works. DTF produces less water waste than screen printing, but the PET film is a single-use plastic. We’re honest about that trade-off. For the full picture on ink safety and ventilation requirements, the HSE’s PPIS13 guidance is worth a read if you’re running your own press.

If you have a specific certification requirement for a job, mention it when you request a quote. We can check which blanks in our range meet what you need and let you know any price implications before you commit.

Real-World Examples: How Brands Use These Certifications

Frequently Asked Questions