48 million tones of clothing are disposed worldwide every year. 73% are incinerated, 12% is reused, 12% is downcycled, and only less then 1% is turned into new clothes. This low percentage can be partially expalined by the incapacity of companies to communicate on their recycling commitment.

To give the fashion and textile industry a way to authenticate their sustainability claims from raw material to final product, Textile Exchange developed a set of robust standards. Textile exchange role is to develop, revise and own these standards. Auditing and certification to the standards is in the hands of third-party certification bodies.

The Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) and the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) are specificaly designed to boost the use of recycled materials. As such, they target suppliers who can use the standards to offer products certified to contain recycled content thus facilitating brands circular procurement.

The RCS and GRS are basically the same, but the GRS is more rigorous. In fact, every requirement covered by RCS is also covered by GRS. In the GRS, there is a higher minimum recycled content percentage (50%) and additional processing requirements (social, environmental, and chemical) that have to be met. The RCS and GRS have three main objectives:

- Align definitions of “recycled” across different applications.

- Verify recycled content in products.

- Give brands and consumers a means to make informed buying decisions.

The GRS has additional aims:

- Reduce the harmful impact of production on people and the environment.

- Provide assurance that products are processed in a more climate-friendly way.

- Encourage higher proportions (50%) of recycled content in products.

Only products that meet all requirements may be labeled with the RCS or GRS logo.