In 1987, the United Nations Brundtland Commission defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
") textile [standard](https://gots.vorschau.website/resources/glossary/standard "standard glossary text
") can be heard. Whereas the International Association of Natural Textile Industry (IVN), one of the four founding members of the [GOTS](https://gots.vorschau.website/resources/glossary/gots "The worldwide leading voluntary sustainability standard for the post-harvest textile value chain for certified organic fibres, covering environmental criteria, human rights, social criteria and business conduct.
") international working group, considers this unnecessary. "The Fashion Industry doesn't need a new Ecolabel for environmental and social responsible production - we already have one: GOTS" Heike Scheuer, IVN Head Office, countered on the newest statements of H&M's chief executive officers Karl Johan-Persson, who claimed another worldwide label for fashion in an Interview with the big German Magazine "Der Spiegel". "In Germany and Europe GOTS has long proved its applicability despite its high demands. Even large retail companies like Aldi, Rewe, dm-drugstore chain or C&A have GOTS certified products in their selections" Heike Scheuer continues. In the view of the IVN the claim for a new label is simply obsolete because even today consumers are facing and impenetrable "Label jungle". Instead of that the big [retailers](https://gots.vorschau.website/resources/glossary/retailer "A business entity or an online marketplace selling directly and exclusively to an end consumer (DTC operator).
") and [brands](https://gots.vorschau.website/resources/glossary/brand "A registered or unregistered trademark or other sign other than the GOTS Signs.
The term, in context, can also refer to an organisation that controls the design, development, and purchase of final products for sale under their own name. In that context, brands may sell to wholesalers, retailers, or directly to consumers. This does not include organisations who sell a branded intermediate product for use in further processing steps.
standard glossary text
"). In the policy memorandum of the USDA from 2011, where GOTS was confirmed as [organic](https://gots.vorschau.website/resources/glossary/organic "'Organic' is a regulated term used to distinguish systems of managed production and products derived therefrom that adhere to principles of health, ecology, fairness and care, and which are certified compliant to an organic standard's regulations by an Approved Certification Body.
GOTS defines organic textiles as being made with fibres from organic agriculture systems that are certified to one of the IFOAM Family of Standards, and that are processed in socially and ecologically responsible ways, in alignment with organic principles.