North America GOTS Representative Sandra Marquardt and GOTS Technical Committee Representative Gwendolyn Wyard (Organic Trade Association Senior Director, Regulatory and Technical Affairs) presented about GOTS at the recent Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore, Maryland. Also speaking at the seminar were Texas Organic Cotton Marketing Cooperative (TOCMC) President Jimmy Wedel, Textile Exchange Ambassador Karla Magruder, GOTS-certified MetaWear President Marci Zaroff, and Joe Dickson, Senior Global Quality Standards Coordinator for Whole Foods Market which is developing an internal textile policy prioritizing GOTS-certification.
After the presentation, the group met with the new US Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Organic Program Director of the Standards Division and discussed revisions to USDA’s 2011 Organic Textile Memorandum.
Sandra and Gwendolyn also took part in an Organic Trade Association meeting of its new Fiber Council which discussed educational outreach and research opportunities for the year. Also attending were the Specialty Sleep Association, certifier Oregon Tilth, representatives of TOCMC and GOTS-certified Maggie’s Organic, MetaWear, and Naturepedic, as well as MOM’s Organic Market which is finalizing a policy to require GOTS for all its textile products, soon becoming the first company in the U.S. to institute such a policy. Marquardt then went to the show floor to visit the booth of GOTS-certified women’s apparel brand Synergy Organic Clothing.
Sandra will next present about GOTS at Texworld in New York City on January 25, 2016.
