GOTS Bangladesh Seminar 2019 focus on ‘Connecting for Success’

Desk Report: On 8th September 2019, GOTS is hosting the ‘GOTS Bangladesh Seminar 2019’ (GBDS19) with the theme ‘Connecting for Success’ at the International Convention City Bashundhra (ICCB) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The seminar serves to bring key players from brands, exporters, certifiers, chemical industry, and other significant stakeholders together.

Bangladesh is second, after India, in terms of the total number of GOTS-certified facilities worldwide. The seminar will provide a platform to sustain this growth and to facilitate networking opportunities among international value-chain experts e.g. from China, Europe, and India.

The following topics will be covered in the seminar:

• Sustainable Retail: Recent trends, priorities, and experience of conscious buyers.
• GOTS Technical Criteria and its Implementation: Latest criteria and experiences from implementation partners for technical aspects of the standard.
• Connecting on the Job: Workers and Management:Exploring working conditions at garment (and other) factories in Bangladesh, connecting workers and factory owners to discuss relevant social compliance issues.
• Connecting Supply Chain Partners: Connecting key supply chain partners including garmenting, wet processing, testing, certifiers, and chemical suppliers.

The Seminar 2019 is the second GOTS-event held in Bangladesh. The first one took place in November 2016, counting 180 people from 5 countries.

The non-profit organization Global Standard GmbH was founded in 2008 by four leading international standard-setting member organizations and is the owner of the GOTS label. GOTS stands for Global Organic Textile Standard and was developed by the four organisations with the aim to ensure the organic status of textiles and credible product safety for consumers: Organic Trade Association (U.S.), Japan Organic Cotton Association, International Association of the Natural Textile Industry (Germany), and Soil Association (UK). The stringent globally recognized leading standard for the entire post-harvest processing of apparel and home textiles, defines environmental and social requirements at a high level and requires compliance with the defined criteria along the textile supply chain.