GOTS Certification Has Made Us More Organised, Accountable, Transparent, Sustainable: Sri Kalyan Export

Company Performance

GOTS Certification Has Made Us More Organised, Accountable, Transparent, Sustainable: Sri Kalyan Export

Sri Kalyan Export Pvt Ltd, based in Erode, Tamil Nadu,is today a reputed manufacturer of organic cotton textiles, apparel, home textiles, accessories. The company, soon after its inception in 2001, realised the trend and the need to move towards more sustainable products. In 2006, the company began using certified organic cotton yarns and producing organic cotton fabrics. Before that, the company had been using conventional cotton, rayon, etc. Today, Sri Kalyan Export boasts of nearly 60% GOTS certified production, from its total volume of goods. According to the Managing Director, Sri Kalyan, “GOTS certification helps a company improve its performance, transparency, accountability on various fronts – social, environmental, chemical management. It makes us more organised. This is the need of the hour.” Outlining the journey, Mr. Kalyan said that in 2006, the company was only using GOTS certified organic cotton yarns. “This was enough for our buyers at that time. Gradually, as demand for organic cotton fabrics started picking up, customers needed authentic organic fabrics, that certified the whole process from farm to finishing, including dyeing and printing. So, it was necessary for us to get GOTS certification for our own weaving and stitching operations, as well as for our contracted processing mills.” So, what did the GOTS certification process involve? “It meant that we had to work in a more organised manner and bear accountability for all processes. We had to conform to various sections of social criteria, which is an integrated part of the Standard. This helped us as a company to be more involved in social activities, workers’ welfare, environment management, protection and safety standards at our units, etc. We have more than 250 workers at our factory, and they too have benefitted from the activities we undertook because of GOTS certification,” said Mr Kalyan. GOTS certification ensures that a company is accountable, more organised in its processes, and is thus able to provide various data related to consumption of water, chemicals, energy, and other inputs. A company will need to follow environment management systems too. This also improves a company’s maintenance practices, and eventually improves the company’s overall working. With the introduction of new GOTS versions, a company needs to put in some effort in terms of learning how to get audited and approved for the upgraded version by a GOTS Approved Certifier. Again, certified companies have reaped benefits from these upgrades, as it is a continuous process to improve work standards. GOTS extends all possible support during these upgrades, by means of online webinars, newsletter updates, and more. For Sri Kalyan Export, following the Standards has earned it a good reputation, in the international and domestic market. “Our buyers recognise us as a trusted manufacturer of organic textiles. We sell GOTS certified fabrics, bags, apparel, home textiles, in the domestic and international market. Our business has grown multifold because of the Standards that we follow,” informed Mr Kalyan. Is the investment of time, effort and money towards GOTS certification worth it for Sri Kalyan Export? “We will proudly say 100% YES to this.Whatever investment we have put in to achieve GOTS standards,it’s beneficial to our company, our workers, our buyers and the environment in a big way.” Mr Kalyan added, “We proudly say it’s our 10^thyear of being associated with GOTS Certification. It really benefits our company. Now our GOTS certified production is nearly 60% of our total volume of goods.In fabrics, garments, bagsand home textile products,we are working to increase the volume in GOTS certified products. Because of following GOTS criteria like social aspects, workers welfare, environmental welfare, etc., we are also eligible to be certified in SA 8000, SEDEX, Fair Trade,Oeko-Tex etc.With each new version, GOTS makes us learn new things and implement this in our policy and working.Thanks to GOTS Team for helping us to achieve these milestones.” GOTS works with the industry to make it more sustainable “We at GOTS are tirelessly working to achieve our vision - that is - organic textiles will become a significant part of everyday life, enhancing people’s lives and the environment. We actively engage with the companies in the whole supply chain in production countries as well as buying houses, brands and media. Regional representatives conduct initial consulting for the companies and our people are present in most of the industry events to spread knowledge about sustainability and GOTS. We invite you to our booth at vTex by Textile Excellence as well as our YouTube channel for exciting new content,” said Sumit Gupta, Deputy Director, Standards Development & Quality Assurance, GOTS.