Textile Exchange has published the final criteria for its Materials Matter Standard—a major milestone in the organization’s multi-year transition toward a unified, impact-driven standards system for raw material production and primary processing. The goal of the Materials Matter Standard is to provide brands, suppliers, and producers with a credible mark that links production practices to measurable outcomes—supporting the industry’s move toward integrity and accountability at scale.
The publication of the final criteria marks the first phase of the transition. The Materials Matter Standard will become effective on December 31, 2026, meaning that sites can start to get certified, and will be mandatory from December 31, 2027. Organizations may continue using Textile Exchange’s current standards until this date to ensure a smooth shift for certified sites globally.
For more than 20 years, the global nonprofit has been developing and maintaining leading material sustainability standards. Today, over 90,000 sites worldwide are certified to one of its programs, including the Global Recycled Standard and Responsible Wool Standard. Now, the release of the Materials Matter Standard criteria marks an important step in connecting this work more directly to measurable outcomes for climate, nature, people, and animals.
Textile Exchange began developing the new framework in 2021 to align the ambition, rigor, and expected results across its material-specific standards and transition the industry into a more coherent, science-aligned way to measure and verify impact. The criteria were developed over five years in close collaboration with a designated International Working Group made up of brands, retailers, suppliers, producers, NGOs, and technical specialists. Two publicly consulted drafts and a pilot version, tested in key material production regions from Peru to Italy, have helped refine the framework, alongside extensive work to ensure alignment with the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems.
“The Materials Matter Standard is more than a certification”
Claire Bergkamp, CEO of Textile Exchange underlined that the Materials Matter Standard is more than a certification; it’s a commitment to driving measurable impact at the very start of the supply system. “By aligning expectations and outcomes across the industry, this standard accelerates progress toward climate and nature goals and ensures that sustainability becomes a shared responsibility,” Bergkamp said.
Ashley Gill, Chief Standards and Strategy Officer at Textile Exchange commented: “The Materials Matter System strengthens integrity, reduces complexity, and connects best practices to real outcomes. By consolidating our existing standards into one system, we’re creating a clearer, more scalable pathway to systemic change across the textile and apparel industry.”
The first version of the Materials Matter Standard includes all materials currently covered by Textile Exchange’s Responsible Animal Fiber framework, including wool, alpaca, mohair, as well as recycled materials, as currently covered in the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) and Recycled Claims Standard (RCS). Organic cotton, which has long been an integral part of Textile Exchange’s standards system, will continue to play a central role through a gradual transition pathway for the Organic Content Standard into the Materials Matter System. This pathway will preserve essential functions such as traceability while strengthening the system to enable more holistic, farmer-centered outcomes.
