20 Years of the Global Organic Textile Standard

This year marks a major milestone for Seasalt as we celebrate two decades since we became the first fashion company to achieve Soil Association certification to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). It’s a legacy we’re incredibly proud of and it continues to shape what we stand for and how we make our clothes today.​

Back in 2005, when most people associated the Soil Association with organic vegetables, Seasalt was helping expand its reach into textiles. Our staff and founders, the Chadwicks, travelled to build trusted relationships with organic farms, mills and factories across Türkiye – laying the foundations for what would become a long-standing commitment to organic standards, worker wellbeing and traceability.​

Working alongside the Soil Association, we helped develop the framework that brought GOTS certification to the fashion industry, defining what organic meant at the farm level and across the full lifecycle of a product. Our ongoing partnership still stands strong today.​

GOTS has sat at the heart of how we source, design and produce our clothing from the very start. It’s more than a label. It’s a robust standard that covers everything from fibre farming and environmental impacts to fair labour practices, chemical restrictions and chain-of-custody tracking.

We’ve maintained our GOTS certification every single year, even as the standard has evolved and become more rigorous.​
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Certification is no tick-box exercise; it demands a deep commitment from our internal teams, suppliers and factories. Every link in the supply chain – from yarn spinners to dye houses – must meet strict environmental and social criteria and participate in third-party audits. ​
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We hold thousands of individual transaction certificates for our certified fibres and materials, and we manage these through a dedicated product provenance team. It takes more time and it costs more, but we know it's worth it.​
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As one of the few UK brands with two decades of GOTS experience behind us, we bring knowledge, relationships and real-world evidence to the table. We’ve made it a priority to support others on this journey – from mentoring smaller brands through our membership of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) to collaborating with other companies working towards GOTS.

In 2020, we set a new target to convert 100% of the cotton fibre entering our business to certified organic and traceable sources. Because of the complexity of global supply chains, not every product can yet carry the GOTS logo (GOTS products must be over 70% certified organic fibre and made by fully GOTS-certified suppliers). But every fibre we use comes with full traceability and meets the standard.​
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This traceability gives us visibility of where our cotton is grown, which we cross-reference with our Responsible Cotton Sourcing Policy to ensure none of our fibres come from regions with known human rights concerns, such as Xinjiang in China. We combine this data with our broader  supplier mapping efforts, helping us identify and mitigate risks, meet our ethical commitments and maintain transparency at every level.​
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And it’s not just about cotton. We’ve built on our GOTS foundation by also committing to other leading certification schemes, including:​ ​

• Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) — for 100% of our virgin wool.​
• Closed-loop viscose — from responsibly managed plant sources.​
• Leather Working Group (LWG) — for all of our leather, sourced only from gold- and silver-rated tanneries.​

Our approach is grounded in verification – something we’ve now formalised through our new Green Claims Policy, launched in 2025. It gives a clear view of how we validate each and every claim – and sets out exactly what terms like “organic,” “responsible wool,” or “recycled” mean at Seasalt.

When you shop at Seasalt, you’re not just choosing beautiful, thoughtfully designed clothes – you’re choosing a brand that has spent two decades doing the hard work to ensure its supply chain is safe, ethical and traceable.​
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Because we use GOTS-certified organic cotton and other independently verified materials, you can rest assured that:

• The fibres in your clothes are grown and processed without toxic chemicals that harm people or the planet.​
• Workers involved in the supply chain are protected by strict labour standards.​
• Your purchase supports soil health, biodiversity and a better future for farming communities.