What are your thoughts on Pact clothing? They are one of the only GOTS certified brands that I can find in my country (New Zealand) for certain things like underwear. But I'm hesitant to buy anything after reading this article (written Jan 2024):
https://ecocult.com/pact-used-to-be-sustainable-not-anymore/
To summarise briefly, the author notes increasing reports since 2020 of chemical smells and skin reactions after wearing Pact clothes. So the author thinks there are new toxic finishing chemicals, dyes, or packaging treatments are being used.
They are also listing things as 100% cotton that have non organic materials like a polyester ribbon or thread. There are concerns about supply chain transparency. And no real evidence of “circular economy” practices.
Also the author noted that not all clothing that claims to be GOTS certified is GOTS certified. I contacted Pact four moths ago asking where the GOTS certifier info + license number is located on their products (as required by GOTS for something to be considered certified) and they said the GOTS info is present as a sticker on the Vela bag that the item comes in. That sounds quite unreliable, as stickers can be easily misplaced on products that are not GOTS certified.
From my experience, reliable brands at least have their GOTS certification info on the swing tag which would then have the particular item code and barcode on it so you can be sure the GOTS certification applies to that particular product. Or even better for some brands, the GOTS certification info is on a tag sewn directly into the clothing.
Pact only became a GOTS certified brand this year (they have their own license number now, there would be stricter requirements, auditing) so maybe they are improving.
Does anyone know whether they are still using the GOTS sticker system? Do you notice the chemical smells, inconsistent labeling of organic materials? Keen to hear your experience.
Submitted August 28, 2025 at 04:49AM by Nearby-Peace https://ift.tt/D5uByWI