Connecting for Success at the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) Bangladesh Seminar

14 Jul 2019

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 GOTS Bangladesh Seminar 2019 serves to bring together key players of the organic textile industry, including brands, exporters, certifiers, chemical industry, and other significant stakeholders.

In 2018, Bangladesh reached second position, after India, in terms of the total number of GOTS certified facilities worldwide. This growth trend showcases the commitment of the Bangladeshi textile industry to not only organic fibres, but also to environmental and social compliances. Fire and Building Safety are included in the GOTS criteria and the country has shown significant progress in all these areas.

To sustain this growth, it is important that the industry is strongly connected with other stakeholders along the organic textile value chain. While connections within the country are important, active engagement with international stakeholders including suppliers and buyers are vital to the success of the industry as well.
The following topics will be covered in the seminar:

• Sustainable Retail:Buyers from international brands and retailers sourcing in Bangladesh will share and discuss their experiences and trends with garment suppliers and other supply-chain partners.
• GOTS Technical Criteria and its Implementation: The requirements for the standard have consistently been evolving to keep pace with technical research and market requirements. In this session latest criteria will be discussed, and implementation partners will share their experiences with technical aspects of the standard.
• Connecting on the Job -Workers and Management:This session explores working conditions at garment (and other) factories in Bangladesh, connecting workers and factory owners to discuss relevant social compliance issues.
• Connecting Supply Chain Partners: In the ever-evolving market and compliance landscape, coordination between supply-chain partners is paramount to the success of textile supply-chains. This session connects key supply-chain partners including garmenting, wet processing, testing, certifiers and chemical suppliers to discuss challenges and opportunities at every step of the supply-chain.

GOTS has been organising international and regional events since 2015. The Seminar 2019 is the secondGOTS-event held in Bangladesh and the fifth event in the Indian subcontinent region organised by GOTS. The first seminar in Bangladesh took place in November 2016, counting 180 people from 5 countries. The seminar will be conducted in English.