Organic cotton continues to gain strategic importance in the global textile and apparel industry as brands, regulators and consumers increasingly demand credible sustainability claims and verified supply chains. This trend is reflected in the rapid expansion of the OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON certification, which recorded a 381% year-over-year growth by 31 December 2025.
As volumes grow, so does the need for credible, fraud-resistant certification systems. Against this backdrop, OEKO-TEX® chose TextileGenesis, a Lectra company, to take a future-facing approach to organic cotton certification, tackling one of the industry’s most pressing challenges: fraud prevention through the digitization of Transaction Certificates in organic cotton supply chains.
This cooperation combines OEKO-TEX®’s certification expertise and closed testing system with TextileGenesis’ digital traceability platform, creating a secure, end-to-end solution for managing certified organic cotton flows. At its core is the digitalisation of Transaction Certificates, bringing physical material movements and certification data together on a single platform and replacing fragmented, paper-based processes.
From fibre to data: Building a secure digital chain of custody
A key component is TextileGenesis’ token-based fibercoinTM technology, which links each physical shipment of organic cotton to a unique digital token within a closed-loop system. This approach enables transparent, tamper-resistant traceability from fibre to finished products, while significantly reducing administrative effort for ginners, spinners, manufacturers and brands.
“OEKO-TEX® plays an important role in setting trusted standards for organic cotton across the textile industry, and we’re pleased to collaborate with the OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON Standard on this initiative.” says Amit Gautam, CEO of TextileGenesis. “By using TextileGenesis’ pioneering Fibercoin™ technology, we are creating a digital chain of custody for OEKO-TEX® certified organic cotton and eliminating pdf/paper-based Transaction certificates. This collaboration helps ensure that organic cotton claims are easier to manage and verifiable at scale.”
The initiative builds on OEKO-TEX®’s established in-house GMO testing, conducted exclusively within its 17 international testing institutes. Both raw fibre and raw yarn are tested, ensuring that organic standards are verified at the very beginning of the supply chain and consistently upheld throughout.
From a strategic perspective, the cooperation marks an important milestone in OEKO-TEX®’s broader digital roadmap. According to OEKO-TEX® CEO, Dr. Alfred J. Beerli, the collaboration is a natural next step: “Working with TextileGenesis is a key part of how we are moving our certification system into the digital future. Secure, transparent and data-driven processes strengthen the integrity of OEKO-TEX® while making certification more efficient and scalable – especially for organic cotton certified by us.”
The digitisation of Transaction Certificates for OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON is intentionally designed as a starting point. “We see this as a pilot with much wider potential,” Dr. Beerli explains. “Once established, this approach can be extended step by step to other OEKO-TEX® certifications and product groups.”
Successful pilot demonstrates strong industry acceptance
OEKO-TEX® and TextileGenesis launched a pilot project in early 2025, tracing selective organic cotton supply chains across India and Bangladesh, involving ginning, spinning mills, fabric mills and testing institutes. During the pilot phase from March to August 2025, eleven supply chain actors were involved, 24 certificates were added and approved across 19 certified transactions that were successfully captured and validated.
Supplier feedback confirmed strong acceptance of the digital approach, with high ratings for usability, training and overall support. “Moving to digital transaction certificates is a meaningful step toward better transparency and efficiency. TextileGenesis has made traceability easier to manage and reduced manual effort, while increasing confidence in certified transactions. Together with OEKO-TEX®, this points toward a simpler and more sustainable certification process for the industry,” says a representative of KKP Spinning Mills Pvt. Ltd. Milan Ginning Pressing Limited and Atlas Export Enterprises agree, “The collaboration has supported better compliance and trust across the certified supply chain.“
Laying the groundwork for the next phase of certification
Following the successful pilot, OEKO-TEX® and TextileGenesis will continue to develop the platform, with the aim of scaling digital Transaction Certificates across additional organic cotton supply chains.
Looking ahead, digital platforms will play a central role in safeguarding trust in textile certifications. “Real-time transparency and interoperability will be essential going forward,” predicts Dr. Beerli. “Our ambition is not only to keep pace with industry developments, but to actively help shape future-ready certification standards.”
About TextileGenesis:
Founded in 2018, TextileGenesis, a Lectra company, provides a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform that enables fashion brands and sustainable textile manufacturers to ensure a reliable, secure and fully digital traceability of their textiles, from the fiber to the consumer, and thereby guarantee their authenticity and origins. The platform provides traceability for textiles, leather and footwear, employing fiber forwards traceability for sustainable and certified materials and Supply Chain discovery approach to traceability for conventional materials.
Its innovative traceability mechanism, which addresses both ends of the textile value chain, as well as its network of partners for material certification, and its technology platform guarantee the exchange and tracking of reliable and secure data throughout a material's life cycle. TextileGenesis platform also identifies and flags supply chain compliance/legal risks across the value chain from tier 1-4 for brands.
About Lectra:
At the forefront of innovation since its founding in 1973, Lectra provides industrial intelligence technology solutions—combining software in SaaS mode, cutting equipment, data, and associated services—to players in the fashion, automotive and furniture industries. With boldness and passion, Lectra accelerates the transformation and success of its customers in a world in perpetual motion thanks to the key technologies of Industry 4.0: AI, big data, cloud and the Internet of Things.
The Group is present in more than one hundred countries. It operates three production sites for its cutting equipment, located in France, China and the United States. Lectra's 3,000 employees are driven by three core values: being open-minded thinkers, trusted partners and passionate innovators. They all share the same commitment to social responsibility, which is one of the pillars of Lectra's strategy for ensuring sustainable growth for both the company and its customers.
The company is listed on Euronext, and is included in CAC All Shares, CAC Technology, EN Tech Leaders and ENT PEA-PME 150 indices. For more information, please visit lectra.com.
