GRS, OEKO-TEX, GOTS and SEDEX: Which Bag Certification You Need in 2026

Certification is where bag sourcing conversations get vague fastest. Logos appear on websites without certificate numbers, buyers ask for "eco certification" without specifying which, and everyone nods. Then a retailer's compliance team asks a precise question and the whole thing falls apart.

The four standards below answer genuinely different questions. Knowing which question you actually need answered is most of the work.

The four standards, side by side

OEKO-TEX Standard 100

The chemical safety baseline. It tests the finished article for harmful substances — formaldehyde, heavy metals, azo dyes, phthalates and PFAS among them — against limit values set by product class. It audits one point: the finished fabric or article.

What it does not do is certify anything about origin. An OEKO-TEX certified bag may contain no organic and no recycled content whatsoever; the standard is silent on both. Major retailers commonly list Standard 100 or equivalent as a baseline chemistry requirement, so it is often the entry ticket rather than the differentiator.

GOTS and GRS: the origin standards

GOTS covers organic fibre, GRS covers recycled content, and both work on chain of custody — the point being that the claim is traceable rather than asserted.

GRS requires a minimum of 20% recycled content for a product to be certified, with a higher threshold — commonly cited as 50% — before the GRS logo can go on the product itself. It goes well beyond content: it covers chain of custody, environmental management, social criteria, and chemical restrictions aligned to the ZDHC manufacturing restricted substances list. Critically, it audits every facility in the chain, from the recycler through to cut-and-sew, which is why a GRS claim takes longer to set up than buyers expect.

In hybrid programmes — a recycled cotton tote, say — buyers frequently want all three: GOTS for the organic side, GRS for the recycled side, OEKO-TEX for chemical safety, plus transaction certificates for each shipment.

SEDEX and SMETA: not a certification

Worth stating plainly because it is misdescribed constantly. SEDEX is a membership platform for sharing responsible-sourcing data, and SMETA is an audit methodology. A SMETA audit produces a report of findings, not a pass certificate. When a buyer asks for "SEDEX certification", what they usually want is a recent SMETA audit report and evidence that any non-conformities were closed out.

Which do you actually need?

The final row is the one that changed. From 27 September 2026 the EU's Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive is enforceable, and generic environmental claims — "eco-friendly", "green", "biodegradable", "sustainable" standing alone — are not permitted unless substantiated with recognised evidence. Certification is one of the more robust ways to hold that evidence. What you can and cannot say about a jute bag in 2026 goes through this in detail.

How to verify a supplier's certificates

1. Ask for the PDF certificate, not a logo. Every real certificate has an issuing body, a number, a scope and an expiry date.
2. Check the scope covers the product and process you are buying. A certificate covering woven fabric does not automatically cover a finished stitched bag.
3. Check the expiry. Certificates lapse, and a lapsed one is worth nothing.
4. Verify with the issuing body where a public database exists. Most standards maintain one.
5. Agree transaction certificates at order stage and make them a condition of payment if the claim matters downstream.

If you tell us which claim you need to be able to make to your own customers, we can tell you which certificates that requires and what we can issue against it. Start there — it is a much more productive question than asking a supplier what certifications they have.