certified fair and ecological - what does it mean?
certifications and their limits
With Natascha von Hirschhausen, we work every day to make our entire company as future-oriented as possible. It is important to us to always keep an eye on the entire value chain and to live holistic sustainability in terms of materials, production and our company. We want to formulate our approaches clearly and precisely, have them checked by third-party partners and substantiate them objectively.
For this reason, all our components, from the main material to the care label, are GOTS, IVN-Best and FairForLife certified. These certificates ensure through an annual, independent audit process that the entire value chain is subject to strict and clearly defined social and ecological standards.
All our components are strictly audited until they reach us and we consider the certificates to be essential until our materials arrive at our local factories. For our production in Berlin, we have opted for short distances over certificates for the time being.
the certifications in a nutshell
GOTS stands for Global Organic Textile Standard. This certification is the world's leading standard for the production and processing of textiles made from organically produced natural fibers. The certification defines holistic requirements along the entire production and value chain. The GOTS certificate guarantees strict environmental criteria and social standards - from the cultivation and extraction of raw materials, through the finishing processes (e.g. bleaching, dyeing), to production and ready-to-wear clothing (e.g. T-shirts, shirts, sweaters, etc.). Regular quality assurance is carried out through inspections by independent certification bodies. The GOTS certificate guarantees the end consumer that the respective textiles are produced, packaged, traded and distributed in an all-encompassing ecologically and socially sustainable manner.
IVN Best holds the highest standards in the production of sustainable textiles. In addition to the control of each processing step, the certified textile, in contrast to the GOTS label, must be made of 100% ecological and social natural materials. We also pay attention to mono-materials, 100% natural resources, in GOTS certified materials.
The FairForLife certificate focuses on particularly high social standards and also controls the entire supply chain. For example, it is clearly defined what it means to pay a "living wage" - for us the perfect addition to GOTS and IVN Best.
time for transparency
We would like to take this opportunity to emphasize that our label itself is not certified by GOTS. Our focus is on independent third-party audit up to our local production.
Accordingly, we are not allowed to list our products as GOTS--certified on our website, even though every component of every garment is made exclusively from certified materials.
We decided to do this because we want to produce locally with our production sites in Weißensee and Cottbus, as well as our own studio - and those are not certified.
Our production in Berlin is already more cost-intensive than in other European countries, where we could produce more cost-effectively and GOTS-certified.
We prefer our local production and the made-to-order principle here, as we currently consider it to be the most sustainable solution for our concept. Natascha can ride over on my e-bike, discuss everything, supervise production and deliver or collect the collection. It also preserves local craftsmanship and jobs in Berlin.
That's why "common-sense design" is more important to us than certification at this point. We have decided to produce waste-free here in Berlin, thereby creating transparency and proximity.
In our opinion, certifications are very important and we do not want to undermine them in any way. Using independently audited, high-quality materials for our production is absolutely essential for us.
To summarize: All components are independently and annually audited for transparent social and ecological standards along the entire value chain until they reach us. We consider the certificates to be essential until they arrive at our local factories. For our production in Berlin, we have opted for short distances over certificates for the time being.
If you have any questions, please contact us at info@nataschavonhirschhausen.com or via social media.
