The short answer
They prove different things. OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 shows that listed articles passed harmful-substance testing against its limit values. The Global Recycled Standard (GRS) verifies recycled content and chain of custody, with social, environmental and processing-chemical rules. GOTS, the Global Organic Textile Standard, concerns textiles sold as organic. None is a general quality mark, and a fabric mill’s certificate does not automatically cover your finished garment. Check the holder, scope, validity and the records for your own goods.
STANDARD 100 is a harmful-substance label; on its own it does not certify quality, organic fiber or recycled content.
A GRS scope certificate shows an organization is certified; a transaction certificate ties certified material to a shipment.
Organic claims concern natural fibers such as cotton; for polyester the questions are recycled content and chemical testing.
Which certificate answers which activewear question?
Start with the sentence you want to print, then choose the standard that can support it. The three schemes are often requested together, yet each answers a different question and sits with a different party in the supply chain.
| Question | OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 | GRS | GOTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is checked | Listed articles tested against harmful-substance limit values for a product class | Recycled content, chain of custody, social and environmental practices, chemicals used in processing | Textiles sold as organic; read the current criteria from the standard owner |
| What it does not settle | Quality, fitness for use, burning behaviour, product safety or labeling law | Quality, legal compliance and chemicals present in the final product | Anything outside the scope printed on the certificate |
| Who holds it | The applicant for the listed articles, at any stage from yarn to finished garment | Each stage from the recycler to the last seller in the final business-to-business transaction | The organization named on the certificate |
| Evidence for your order | Certificate number, scope text, product class and expiry date | A scope certificate plus a transaction certificate for your shipment | The supplier’s certificate plus documents covering your goods |
One garment can involve all three, one or none. Each claim should trace to a named holder, a scope that includes your article and a valid date; the evidence request checklist shows how to log them.
What does OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 actually certify?
STANDARD 100 applies to textiles and accessories at every production level, including non-textile components and recycled materials. OEKO-TEX, formally the International Association for Research and Testing in the Field of Textile and Leather Ecology, is a group of independent institutes; its name is a registered trademark, not a fiber or fabric. Polyester, nylon, elastane, cotton, yarns, trims and garments can all be certified, but only the articles listed on a certificate are covered.
The standard says the mark is not a quality label: it covers the as-produced state and says nothing about fitness for use, cleaning behaviour, burning behaviour, product safety or textile labeling. Limits depend on product class. Class I covers articles for babies up to 36 months, and Class II covers articles worn with a large part of their surface against the skin, so ask which class a close-fitting activewear certificate uses.
Read the scope line by line: product category, fiber composition, processed state such as dyed or printed, and accessories. Virgin and recycled material cannot share one scope, nor can organic and conventional cotton. A certified product also loses that status once professionally altered physically or chemically, washing included, so a fabric certificate does not follow the fabric through garment dyeing, printing or washing done elsewhere.
Does OEKO-TEX mean no formaldehyde, PFAS or flame retardants?
Not in the absolute sense many shoppers assume. Every laboratory result must be below the relevant limit before a certificate is issued. For free and partially releasable formaldehyde, the Edition 02.2025 limit table sets “not detectable” for Class I (below 16 mg/kg by the referenced Japanese Law 112 method), 75 mg/kg for Class II, 150 mg/kg for Class III and 300 mg/kg for Class IV. OEKO-TEX generally publishes updated criteria each March, so confirm the table in force.
For PFAS, the table sets “no intentional use” plus limits for individual substances and a total-fluorine screen. That supports a statement about the certified article under OEKO-TEX’s criteria, not a ruling under a state PFAS law; see the activewear compliance guide. Flame-retardant products are also “no intentional use”, except treatments OEKO-TEX has accepted after its own assessment, and a standard sentence in the scope discloses their use.
“Non-toxic” is not a category in the standard. A valid certificate shows that the listed article met the tested criteria when tested; keep public wording to that fact.
What does a GRS certificate prove about recycled polyester?
Recycled polyester is made from reclaimed pre-consumer or post-consumer material in place of new primary material; the OEKO-TEX standard’s own scope example is polyester with 100% recycled content from post-consumer PET bottles. GRS uses the ISO 14021 definition of recycled content and measures it by mass.
GRS is a voluntary product standard covering recycled content, chain of custody, social and environmental practices and chemical restrictions. It applies to products with at least 20% recycled content, requires certification at every stage from the recycler to the last seller in the final business-to-business transaction, and allows product-specific GRS labeling only at 50% or more. Version 5.0 took effect on 1 July 2026 and is mandatory for audits from 31 December 2026. The Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) covers recycled input and chain of custody; the social, environmental and chemical requirements belong to GRS.
GRS limits hazardous chemicals used in processing but does not address chemicals in the reclaimed input or the final product, nor quality. A recycled legging still needs harmful-substance evidence and its own stretch approval; if you are weighing recycled elastane or a non-elastane stretch construction, test it in the garment with the stretch and recovery guide.
How do you check an OEKO-TEX, GRS or GOTS certificate?
For OEKO-TEX, look up the certificate number printed with the mark on OEKO-TEX’s website. A seamlessly renewed certificate keeps its number and expires exactly one year after the previous expiry, so compare the holder, scope, product class and expiry date with your purchase order rather than stopping at a match.
For GRS, a scope certificate is the first step; Textile Exchange notes it does not verify that any particular product is certified, which is the transaction certificate’s job. Its certificate policy published on 1 April 2026, effective 1 October 2026, requires a link or QR code on each certificate pointing to its record on Textile Exchange’s website, and its public tools include Find a Certified Company and Authenticate a Transaction. A one-year scope certificate is valid for at most one year.
For GOTS, request the certificate and the documents covering your goods and confirm them with the standard owner before relying on them; this guide does not restate GOTS criteria. For any scheme, match holder name and address, product and dates to your order before filing the record in your evidence log.
How does a supplier get certified, and what does it cost?
For STANDARD 100, the applicant sends an application and representative samples to an OEKO-TEX institute, which sets the test program from the product, composition and product class. A first certification includes an on-site visit, repeated at least every three years unless the site holds OEKO-TEX STeP certification. Costs combine the licence, the company audit and laboratory and administrative testing, reduced when certified inputs are used; the institute quotes.
For GRS, the route is to select an approved certification body, apply, host an on-site audit, close any corrective actions and receive a decision. Textile Exchange does not certify companies itself and suggests getting estimates from more than one certification body, so there is no single price list. A brand selling finished goods to retailers may itself be the last business-to-business seller that GRS labeling requires to be certified.
What makes an organic or sustainability claim defensible?
Organic claims start with the fiber. The USDA National Organic Program treats raw natural fibers such as cotton, wool and flax as agricultural products and says textiles produced to GOTS may be sold as organic in the United States, but may not display the USDA organic seal or imply NOP certification unless NOP-certified. STANDARD 100 is not an organic certificate; OEKO-TEX handles organic cotton through a separate ORGANIC COTTON certification.
“Sustainable” is harder to support. The FTC’s Green Guides advise against unqualified general environmental benefit claims, ask for partial recycled-content claims to be qualified by percentage by weight, and note that third-party certification does not remove the duty to substantiate. Whether mass production can be sustainable is not something a certificate settles. Publish a specific, measured claim, and when screening a “sustainable activewear manufacturer”, ask which certified claim it can support for your product.
Check final wording against the US label checklist, and use the testing and certification resource ranking to confirm where a standard’s scope is published.
Decision map from this guide
| Decision area | What this guide establishes |
|---|---|
| Supplier says the fabric is “OEKO-TEX certified” | Get the certificate number, look it up and confirm your article, processing state and product class are in scope. |
| Garment is dyed, printed or washed after fabric certification | Treat the finished garment as uncovered until the processor’s own certificate includes that step. |
| You plan to print “recycled polyester” | Collect the scope certificate and a transaction certificate for your goods; state the recycled percentage by weight. |
| You want the GRS logo on the product | Confirm at least 50% recycled content, certification up to the last B2B seller and approval from the certification body. |
| A customer asks for organic | Establish whether the fiber is certified organic and which standard covers processing; polyester cannot answer this. |
| No certificate number or record can be produced | Do not publish the claim; log it as unverified with a follow-up date. |
Sources and scope
Official OEKO-TEX, Textile Exchange, USDA and FTC documents support the scope, threshold, verification and claim statements, each as reviewed on 27 September 2026. The comparison table, decision rows and checklists are MOTIONFORM editorial guidance; MOTIONFORM does not hold, issue or verify any of these certificates, and GOTS criteria are not restated here, so read the current version from the standard owner before relying on a GOTS claim.
- OEKO-TEX: STANDARD 100 standard document, Edition 01.2026 (reviewed 27 September 2026)
- OEKO-TEX: STANDARD 100 limit values, Annex 4, Edition 02.2025 (reviewed 27 September 2026)
- OEKO-TEX: FAQ on certification cost and organic cotton options (reviewed 27 September 2026)
- Textile Exchange: Global Recycled Standard 5.0, July 2026 (reviewed 27 September 2026)
- Textile Exchange: Quick Guide to the RCS and GRS (reviewed 27 September 2026)
- Textile Exchange: Policy for Scope and Transaction Certificates, published 1 April 2026 (reviewed 27 September 2026)
- USDA National Organic Program: Policy Memo 11-14, labeling of textiles with organic ingredients (reviewed 27 September 2026)
- FTC: Green Guides, 16 CFR Part 260, 2025 edition via govinfo (reviewed 27 September 2026)
Buyer questions
What does OEKO-TEX stand for, and is it a brand?
OEKO-TEX is the International Association for Research and Testing in the Field of Textile and Leather Ecology, a group of independent institutes. Its name and marks are registered trademarks licensed to certificate holders, not a fiber, fabric or manufacturer. “OEKO-TEX fabric” therefore means only that a specific article appears on a valid certificate, which you can check by its number.
Can polyester or recycled polyester be OEKO-TEX certified?
Yes. STANDARD 100 applies to textiles and accessories from every production level, including yarns, fabrics, finished articles and recycled materials, whatever the fiber. A recycled article needs its own certificate, and at least 20% of its chief material must be recycled before it can be described as recycled. Confirm that the scope names your composition, processing state and product class.
Is OEKO-TEX the same as organic?
No. STANDARD 100 is a harmful-substance test label. OEKO-TEX certifies organic cotton through a separate ORGANIC COTTON standard, and states that even a STANDARD 100 certificate mentioning organic cotton does not prove ecologically and socially responsible cotton production. For an organic claim, collect organic fiber evidence under the relevant standard as well as any chemical test evidence.
How is a GRS scope certificate different from a transaction certificate?
GRS is the Global Recycled Standard owned by Textile Exchange. A scope certificate confirms that an organization is certified for listed products and processes, but it does not verify that any particular product is certified. A transaction certificate does that for one shipment, listing its details and whether the recycled input was pre-consumer or post-consumer.
Can a factory get GRS certified online?
Not entirely. Textile Exchange describes the route as choosing an approved certification body, applying, scheduling an audit, hosting an on-site audit by that body’s auditor, closing any corrective actions and receiving a certification decision. Treat an offer of an instant online GRS certificate as a claim to verify through the certificate’s link or Textile Exchange’s public lookup tools.
Is recycled polyester safe to wear?
A recycled-content certificate cannot answer that. GRS restricts hazardous chemicals used in processing but states that it does not address chemicals present in the final product. For skin-contact activewear, ask for harmful-substance evidence covering the finished article, such as a STANDARD 100 certificate whose scope includes it, and avoid safety or health claims you cannot substantiate.
Which is better, OEKO-TEX or GOTS?
Neither is better in general, because they answer different questions. STANDARD 100 addresses tested harmful substances in listed articles, while GOTS concerns textiles sold as organic. A polyester legging has no organic fiber to certify, so GOTS does not fit it; an organic-cotton tee may need both organic and chemical evidence. Choose the standard that supports the exact claim you plan to print.
Does my brand need its own GRS certificate to use the logo?
Possibly. GRS labeling is open only to products certified up to the seller in the last business-to-business transaction, and product-specific labels need at least 50% recycled content. If your brand sells finished goods to retailers, your business may be that last seller. Ask the certification body before printing, since claims need its approval, and follow Textile Exchange’s logo and claims rules.
