Why are more and more brands accepting the Global Recycling Standard (GRS)?

The Global Recycled Standard (GRS) was originally developed by Certified Unique Products (CU) in 2008, and ownership was transferred to the Textile Exchange on January 1, 2011. The previous version of the standard, GRS 3.0, was released in 2014. GRS 4.0 replaces GRS 3.0 and is effective from July 1, 2017. Sites certified to GRS 3.0 should comply with GRS 4.0 from July 1, 2018. The next scheduled revision of the GRS is in 2021.

The Global Recycled Standard (GRS) is an international, voluntary and comprehensive product standard that specifies third-party certification requirements for recycled content, production and marketing custody chains, social and environmental practices, and chemical restrictions. The goal of GRS is to increase the use of recycled materials in products and reduce the use of recycled materials in final products or semi-finished products containing recycled components. Currently, certification is mainly concentrated in textile and clothing companies, such as recycled bottle flakes, recycled polyester filaments, recycled polyester short yarns, recycled fabrics, recycled clothing, etc.

Today, GRS has been ignited in the entire industry chain by brands such as ZARA, H&M, ADIDAS, Uniqlo, NIKE, IKEA, GAP, etc., connecting all supply chains (from raw materials-production-processing-trade-brand), from brand owners to fabric shops.

Therefore, GRS certification has now been accepted by many brands.