NaturalorganicCertified.
Where our fabrics actually stand.
When we talk about our fabrics, you’ll often see the words natural, organic and certified. They sound similar, but they don’t actually mean the same thing, so we thought it was worth explaining what they mean.
The cotton stripes in our range from Olicana are GOTS certified — that’s the Global Organic Textile Standard, one of the most widely recognised certifications for organic textiles. The rest of our fabrics are made from natural fibres, including cotton, linen and blends of the two, but they are not organically certified. We think it’s important to be clear about that difference, rather than making a fabric sound more certified than it actually is.
What GOTS actually certifies
The Global Organic Textile Standard is the benchmark the textile world uses for organic natural fibres, and it covers more than just where the fibre comes from.
For a fabric to meet the standard, the fibre must be organically grown, and the processing of the textile is also checked. This includes environmental and social criteria throughout the production process; how the textile is treated and finished on its way to becoming fabric.
So it’s not simply a case of starting with organic cotton. The whole journey from fibre to finished fabric is part of the certification.
At the Yorkshire Mill: Our Organic Cotton Stripe
A visit to the family run Yorkshire mill where our striped fabric is woven.
Our GOTS-certified stripe is woven at a family-run mill in Yorkshire. We’ve visited the mill ourselves and seen the fabric being made, which is always rather lovely — there’s something reassuring about seeing where the things you use every day actually come from.
When you choose Olicana, both the cotton and the way it is made have been independently certified to the GOTS standard.
Sea Holly, the woven stripe
The stripe gallery
How to choose between them
A beautiful linen or cotton fabric does not become more beautiful because it has a certificate. How a fabric feels, washes and wears comes down to the fibre, the weave and how it has been made.
If having independently verified organic credentials is important to you, our Olicana stripes are a lovely place to start. If you’re simply looking for a natural fabric that you love, there’s plenty to choose from across the rest of our collection.
And, as ever, we think the best way to choose a fabric is to see it and feel it for yourself. You can order samples of all our fabrics and have a proper look at them at home.
A walk through the library
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Garden Grey, cover and ties
A GOTS label is not a claim about a fabric. It is a paper trail.
Questions, answered
Which Sophie Conran fabrics are certified organic?
Our Olicana range carries GOTS certification, the Global Organic Textile Standard. This means that both the growing of the fibre and the processing of the textile have been independently checked against the organic standard.The rest of our fabric collection is made from natural fibres but does not carry GOTS certification.
What does GOTS certification mean?
It is the benchmark organic standard for natural-fibre textiles, demanding in two directions: the fibre must be organically grown, and the processing along the chain is audited too, with environmental and social criteria applied. It is a verified paper trail rather than a marketing word.
Is natural fabric the same as organic fabric?
No. Natural refers to where the fibre comes from — for example, cotton or linen. Organic refers to how that fibre was grown. Certification means that an independent organisation has checked that the relevant standards have been met.
Does organic fabric feel or wear differently?
Not necessarily. The certificate itself doesn’t change how a fabric feels or wears. Those things come down to the fibre and the way the fabric is woven and made. What certification gives you is some reassurance about how the fibre was grown and how the textile was processed..
Will you add more certified fabrics over time?
We hope so. If more of our fabrics become certified, we’ll make sure to tell you exactly what the certification is and what it covers. For now, Olicana is our GOTS-certified range, while the rest of our collection is made from natural fibres and labelled accordingly.