Soil Association Certification
Soil Association Certification Ltd exists to accelerate the just transition across food, farming and land use, as a global leader in sustainability certification. They deliver trusted solutions with nature, for people and planet through the certification of high integrity holistic standards. These assurance schemes cover a wide range of sectors including food, forestry, farming, landscape restoration carbon markets, beauty and wellbeing, textiles and catering.
They are recognised and trusted by consumers and businesses around the world, and you will also find the Soil Association organic symbol on over 70% of organic products in the UK.
Having been a leading voice in developing standards for organic farming and food, SA Certification recognised the potential for impact across other sectors, and supported the development of standards for organic beauty and textiles
In beauty and wellness, Soil Association Certification established the first standards for organic products in 2002. Today, it certifies products to the international COSMOS Organic and COSMOS Natural standards, the leading standards for organic and natural cosmetics with 58,000 products and ingredients certified worldwide.
In an industry where products can be labelled as “Organic” even if they have as little as 1% organic ingredients, these standards are crucial to safeguarding the integrity of the word.
Furthermore, when you see the Soil Association COSMOS logo on a beauty or wellness product, you can be guaranteed that the product will contain:
- No artificial colours, dyes or fragrances
- No controversial synthetic ingredients that have been linked to endocrine disruption, such as parabens, phthalates, triclosan or oxybenzone
- No microplastics
- No animal testing
- No Genetically Modified ingredients
- No extracts from endangered plants
- Ingredients that are completely traceable to their origin
- Ingredients that have gone through strict biodegradability testing
The Soil Association logo on a product means beauty that is better for you, better for animals and better for the planet.
For Fashion and Textiles products- including everything from bedding, to mattresses, to baby and adult clothing- Soil Association Certification certifies products to the Global Organic Textiles Standard (GOTS).
Like COSMOS, GOTS is an international standard for organic textiles that safeguards the word “organic”, as the term can be used on products that have just 1% organic fibre.
To be certified to GOTS, a product must contain at least 70% organic fibre. In most cases this will be organic cotton, but it could also be organic linen (produced from flax plants), organic hemp or organic wool.
GOTS ensures that not only are strict environmental protections met throughout the supply chain, but that the rights of garment and factory workers are protected also.
When you see a GOTS logo on a product, it means that:
- Workers are being paid a living wage (or their employer is working towards paying it)
- Workers have had the right to freedom of association, including collective bargaining and union membership
- There has been no child labour
- Only low impact, non-toxic dyes have been used on products
- Wastewater has been treated correctly, so chemicals do not flow into local water supplies
- The product has undergone strict chemical residue testing above the industry norm
That’s not to mention that because no synthetic pesticides, fertilisers or herbicides are used when growing the fibres, the health of farm workers is better protected.
Synthetic fertilisers are derived from fossil fuels, and their prohibition in organic farming contributes to the fact that organic cotton emits 46% less greenhouse gas emissions compared to non-organic.
TOG Says …