Leather and textiles that are made into clothing have always been an important aspect of our culture. They are economic factors, means of communication and further our wellbeing. They can also make us sick, pollute our environment or dramatically reduce the quality of life for people who work with them.
As a result, more and more people opt for eco-friendly textiles and leather goods. The two IVN quality seals „Naturtextil IVN certified BEST“ and „Naturleder IVN zertifiziert“ in addition to the „Global Organic Textile Standard“ were developed in order to provide consumers with a definition of what eco-friendly textiles and leather mean and to readily communicate whether the product they have in hand meets these criterion.
This quality seal, well known within Europe, currently sets the strictest ecological standard for textile production at the highest technical level currently feasible. BEST reflects the standards for eco-friendly textiles developed by the International Association of Natural Textile Industry (IVN) since 1990 and reviews the entire textile production chain both in terms of ecological standards and in terms of social accountability.
This internationally recognized standard is awarded by the „International Working Group on GOTS" . IVN is a member of this group. Therefore GOTS is an indirect IVN standard, despite the fact that IVN was a leader in its development. The now defunct standard „IVN zertifiziert“ was inspiration and role model for the new GOTS standard and many of its provisions were integrated into GOTS.