The term “organic” is legally controlled by country. That means that a farm must be certified to its government's standard to sell cotton as organic. Once the cotton leaves the farm, it isn’t covered by the same legal protections. However, a company might choose to use certifications like GOTS or OCS to keep track of these fibers as they move through the supply chain.
The cotton supply chain is super complex and riddled with human rights issues, to say the least. But 3rd-party certifications help strengthen companies’ claims that the products they sell contain organically grown fibers and people were treated fairly at each step of the supply chain.
