Sustainability Certificates Directory

This is a comprehensive list of all the sustainability certificates that APART recognizes.

No Greenwashing

Some of the certificates can be applied to individual products that a brand sells. We only accept certificates if they are applicable to the whole company in order to provide consistency and transparency for our customers.

The list will change based on available information. To read more about the certificates and how to obtain them, just click on each link under “Certificate Name”.

Small Businesses

Certifications can be expensive and become a major barrier for brands that have limited capital and just started off. This doesn’t directly indicate that the brands are not sustainable.

In order for APART to support small businesses, we will work with them on a case-by-case basis after reviewing businesses against our sustainability criteria.

Certificate Name

Description

Logo

Environmental Impact

Non-Toxic

Fair Trade

Socially Conscious

Anti-Animal Cruelty

Circular

Better Cotton Initiative

This is the largest cotton sustainability programme in the world. BCI exists to make global cotton production better for the people who produce it, better for the environment it grows in and better for the sector’s future. BCI continues to work with and educate farmers in order to improve their sustainable practices.

Bluesign

Bluesign checks that the manufacturers and brands are required to act responsibly and sustainably with regard to people, the environment and resources. These set forth all of the relevant information and ensure consistent transparency and traceability of all processing steps down to the raw materials.

Certified B Coroporations

Using 3rd party validation and public transparency on its platform, B Certfied Corporations is a trustworthy and reliable certificate that targets multiple crtierias from its impact on workers, customers, community, and environment. The certification process involves a free assessment where a minimum 80 score is required to pass onto the next step of the certification proceedure. The certfication is revised on a 3 year basis to keep a check on certification misuse and compliance.

Cotton Made in Africa

The CmiA standard’ criteria encompass environmental, social, and economic aspects of cotton farming and ginning. The standards are based on a two-step verification process.

Cradle to Cradle

“To receive certification, products are assessed for environmental and social performance across five critical sustainability categories: material health, material reuse, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship, and social fairness. A product is assigned an achievement level (Basic, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum) for each category.”

Eco Passport by Oeko-Tex

Eco Passport is a certification system for chemicals, colourants and auxiliaries used in the textile and leather industry. During a multistep process, we analyse whether each individual ingredient in the chemical product meets the statutory requirements and that it is not harmful to human health.

Ecocert

“Ecocert has an international network in more than 130 countries to verify in the field the conformity of practices with organic specifications. The entire supply chain is audited, from the raw material to the finished product. Ecocert carries out at least one annual on-site inspections, supplemented by additional unannounced audits during the year. Samples may also be taken for laboratory analysis. The audit reports are then independently verified by our teams in order to certify organic products.”

Ecocert Textile

Under the Ecocert certification system, this is one of their labels that is specifically dedicated to the textile industry. This certfication checks all the aspects on our table.

EU Ecolabel

Certified textile products must meet the criteria that guarantee limited use of substances harmful to health and environment, reduction in water and air pollution, and colour resistance to perspiration, washing, wet and dry rubbing and light exposure.

Fair for Life

They are only handled by companies who demonstrate decent working conditions for all their staff. Fair for Life brand holder companies commit to fair sourcing practices and responsibilities towards their primary producers down the commodity chain. Fair for Life certification of products also confirms traceability of all certified products from production to sales.

Fair Trade International

This label covers a wide range of crtierias, including economic, social, environmental requirements that must be met by both producers and traders in the supply chain. They have regional procuers network worldwide, and gives producers 50% of the vote in their general assembly.

Global Organic Textile Standard

This is one of the most widely recognized and used certification for fibre standards, but it also covers criterias in “processing, manufacturing, packaging, labelling, trading, and distribution of all textiles made from at least 70% certified organic natural fibres.”

Global Recycled Standard

This standard takes the “Recycled Claim Standard” further to include social and environmental processing requirements and chemical restrictions.

Leather Standard by Oeko-Tex

This is an internationally standardised testing and certification system for leather and leather goods at all production levels, including accessory materials. The certification supports companies along the supply chain with the implementation of high human-ecological product safety.

Made in Green by Oeko-Tex

Under the umbrella of Oeko-Tex standards, this one targets harmful substances and identify textiles manufactured under sustainable working conditions.

NATURLEDER (NATURAL LEATHER) IVN Certified

NATURLEDER is Europe’s only quality standard for sustainable leather. The quality seal NATURLEDER IVN ZERTIFIZIERT attests that the labeled products represent a very high level of ecology and quality.

NATURTEXTIL IVN zertifiziert BEST

This standard sets the highest requirements for textile ecology by applying the maximum currently achievable levels of ecological production. BEST documents the entire production chain from both an ecological and social accountability standpoint.

Organic Content Standard

The Organic Content Standard (OCS) applies to any non-food product containing 95-100 percent organic material. It verifies the presence and amount of organic material in a final product and tracks the flow of the raw material from its source to the final product.

Recycled Claim Standard

The RCS verifies the presence and amount of recycled material in a final product, through every step of the supply chain, with minimum requirement of 95% recycled content. This happens through input and chain-of-custody verification from a third party. It allows for the transparent, consistent and comprehensive independent evaluation and verification of recycled material content claims on products.

Responsible Down Standard

The scope of the RDS includes the full down supply chain from the farms and slaughter facilities (animal welfare) to the down processors and garment factories (traceability).

Responsible Jewellery Council

A leading standard setting organization for the jewellery and watches. The strict assessment is a two-year process. “The sectors covered by the COP include exploration and mining; refining and alloying; cutting and polishing; trading, hedging and wholesaling; manufacturing; retailing; and service industries, such

Responsible Mohair Standard

RMS provides the industry with a tool to recognize the best practices of farmers; ensuring that mohair comes from farms that have a progressive approach to managing their land, practice holistic respect for animal welfare of the goats and respect the Five Freedoms of animal welfare. This is quite a new standard developed in 2020.

Responsible Wool Standard

RWS ensures that wool comes from farms that have a progressive approach to managing their land, practice holistic respect for animal welfare of the sheep and respect the Five Freedoms of animal welfare. The RWS requires all sites to be certified, beginning with the wool farmers and through to the seller in the final business to business transaction. Usually the last stage to be certified is the garment manufacturer or brand. Retailers (business-to-consumers) are not required to be certified.

Standard 100 by Oeko-Tex

If a textile article carries the STANDARD 100 label, you can be certain that every component of this article, i.e. every thread, button and other accessories, has been tested for harmful substances and that the article therefore is harmless for human health.

STeP by Oeko-Tex

STep is a modular certification system for production facilities in the textile and leather industry. The goal of STeP is to implement environmentally friendly production processes in the long term, to improve health and safety and to promote socially responsible working conditions at production sites. STeP focusses on the certification of the entire production chain in the area of textile and leather.

Sustainable Fiber Program

This standard addresses “the welfare of farmers’ labour rights and a fair pricing system; Environmental concerns including GHGs by reducing contaminants during use, conserving water and energy for a safe, hygienic and better working environment; Profiting in a fair and transparent manner which is socio-economically viable.

Sustainable Materials Rating Technology

SMaRT is a rating system and standard with environmental, social, & economic criteria. SMaRT is also an Ecolabel recommended by EPA for Federal Procurement.

World Fair Trade Organization Guarantee System

WFTO Guarantee System combines Fair Trade and social enterprise verification into one. It is built to verify that an enterprise is mission-led, focused on the interests of its producers, and this is in the structure, systems and practices of the enterprise.

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Latest Blog Posts

Sustainability Certificates Directory

This is a comprehensive list of all the sustainability certificates that APART recognizes.

No Greenwashing

Small Businesses

Table of Contents

Certificate Name

Description

Logo

Environmental Impact

Non-Toxic

Fair Trade

Socially Conscious

Anti-Animal Cruelty

Circular

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