At WANJIE Textile, we’re committed to driving sustainability forward with every new collection. Today, we’re diving into the Global Recycled Standard (GRS), a significant benchmark in sustainable manufacturing, and explaining what it means for us.
We're excited to share that our upcoming collection will feature fabrics made from recycled polyester. This step aligns with our commitment to higher sustainability standards, starting with the GRS. In this post, we’ll explore what the GRS entails, its history, and its importance in today’s textile industry.
The GRS is an independent, third-party certification that verifies recycled content and sustainable practices across the textile supply chain. It covers everything from spinning and weaving to knitting, dyeing, printing, and stitching in over 50 countries. The GRS offers credible assurance that the recycled content in products is authentic and traceable.
Originally developed by Control Union Certifications in 2008, the GRS was acquired by the Textile Exchange in 2011. The Textile Exchange, a member of the ISEAL Alliance, sets international best practices for sustainable textiles, ensuring real, meaningful change across the industry—from design to finished fabrics.
For a product to be GRS certified, it must contain at least 20% recycled content. If companies want to use the GRS label for consumer-facing products, the content must be at least 50% recycled. This makes GRS both a business-to-business and consumer-facing tool.
To maintain GRS certification, every participant in the production chain must be certified by an independent certification body like the Control Union. Annual audits ensure that the content of our recycled fabrics is authentic, starting from the supplier of waste material (e.g., plastic bottles) to the factory converting it into PET (polyester) and finally to the mill weaving the fabric.
Each step in the process is documented with a unique 'Transaction Certificate,' providing end-to-end traceability and transparency. This ensures that the recycled content is genuine and can be traced back to the original discarded plastic bottles.
GRS aligns seamlessly with our core values. It allows us to guarantee that our recycled fabrics are both high-quality and truly sustainable. The transparency and traceability offered by GRS certification make it an essential part of our journey toward a greener textile industry.
GRS-certified products represent a crucial step toward a more environmentally conscious future. Our forthcoming 'Eco' range will feature at least 50% recycled content, reflecting our dedication to sustainability and innovation in textiles.
