GRS certificate: what it is, what it means and how to check it

GRS stands for Global Recycled Standard. It is a Textile Exchange certification that verifies, through third-party audits, the recycled content of a material and its traceability along the supply chain, as well as social, environmental and chemical requirements. A GRS certificate covers specific products, materials and facilities, not a whole company.

When a merchandise supplier says a product is "made with recycled materials", that claim can mean almost anything. It could be 5% recycled content. It could be unverified. It could be a supply chain claim that has not been audited for years.

The Global Recycled Standard (GRS) is one of the few certifications that genuinely solves this problem, with independent third-party verification, full chain-of-custody tracking and minimum content thresholds. Understanding what the GRS means (and what it does not) helps procurement teams make decisions that are defensible and reportable in ESG terms.

What the GRS certificate is (Global Recycled Standard)

Global Recycled Standard (GRS): an international, voluntary Textile Exchange standard that certifies, through audits by independent bodies, the recycled content of a product and its traceability along the supply chain. It also requires social, environmental and chemical-restriction criteria at every certified facility.

When someone talks about a "GRS certificate" they mean the document that shows a company, or a specific shipment, meets that standard. There are two types and it pays not to confuse them: the scope certificate (SC) accredits an organisation and lists the products, materials and facilities it covers; the transaction certificate (TC) accompanies a specific shipment between certified companies and shows that the batch contains the declared material.

GRS meaning: what it says when you see it on a label or data sheet

When you search for what GRS means, you have most likely come across it in one of these three places, and each implies something different:

• The GRS logo on the product label. It can only be used if the product has at least 50% certified recycled content and the companies in the chain that process and sell it are certified. It is the strongest claim.
• "Made with GRS-certified material" on a data sheet. It indicates that the yarn, fabric or other component comes from a certified supplier. It is a valid claim, but only about that material: ask what percentage of the finished product it represents.
• "We are a GRS company" on a website or in an email. It is the most ambiguous. A GRS certificate covers specific products and sites: ask for the certificate and check that the item you are about to order appears in its scope.

In short: GRS does not mean "100% recycled product" or "sustainable company". It means that a verifiable part of the material is recycled and that someone independent has followed its trail.

What the GRS certifies

The GRS sets requirements in five areas:

The keyword is chain of custody. The GRS does not only certify the final product: it certifies every step of the supply chain that handles the recycled material. If a facility mixes certified material with uncertified material without declaring it, it breaches the standard and puts its certification at risk.

GRS versus other recycled content claims

For recycled content claims in corporate merchandise, the GRS is the most complete reference, because it adds social, environmental and chemical criteria to the recycled percentage. OEKO-TEX answers a different question, the chemical safety of the article; we explain it in our guide to eco-friendly merchandise certifications.

Which materials can be GRS certified?

The GRS applies to any product with recycled content; it is not limited to textiles. Certified materials include:

• Recycled polyester (rPET): from post-consumer plastic bottles, the most common in merchandise
• Recycled cotton: from post-consumer textile waste (offcuts, garments)
• Recycled nylon: often from fishing nets (ECONYL is the best-known brand)
• Recycled wool: from post-consumer wool garments
• Recycled metal (aluminium, steel): from post-consumer scrap
• Recycled plastic (HDPE, PP): from post-consumer plastic waste

In personalised merchandise, the materials with GRS that people ask for most are rPET (bottles, bags, fleece) and recycled cotton (clothing, fabric bags). That a material is recycled does not mean it is certified: ask for the certificate that applies to the specific product.

How the GRS chain of custody works

This is what distinguishes the GRS from simple material claims. Every company in the chain that processes or sells the recycled material with the GRS claim needs its own scope certificate, and each shipment between certified companies can be documented with a transaction certificate. So, for a GRS-certified custom hoodie:

1. Spinning mill (for example The Tenth House): holds the GRS scope certificate for recycled cotton and polyester yarns
2. Weaving or knitting mill: needs its own scope certificate to receive and process the certified yarn
3. Garment maker: needs its own scope certificate to cut and sew the certified fabric
4. Brand or distributor: depending on how it wants to communicate the claim, it may also need its own certification

A certificate at step 1 does not automatically certify steps 2 to 4. That is why you should ask suppliers which specific stages of their supply chain are GRS certified, and not only whether the raw material is recycled.

The GRS certificate of our supplier

One of Zintora's suppliers, The Tenth House (TTH), holds GRS 4.0 certification for yarns. The certificate belongs to the supplier, not to Zintora:

• Certificate number: J22647-G06-2022-003370
• Issuing body: Optiknit Textil Technológia
• Certified materials: post-consumer recycled cotton (RM0189) + post-consumer polyester (RM0156)
• Product category: dyed fancy yarns (PD0072)

This certificate covers the yarns listed. It does not make any garment in our catalogue GRS: we check batch by batch whether an order is covered and confirm it in writing in the quote. You can consult the certificate details on our quality and sustainability page.

Request the certification documents

We have certified products and provide the certificates on request, so that procurement teams can include them in their supplier documentation.

What data appears on a GRS certificate and how to read it

A GRS scope certificate is a document of a few pages. These are the fields worth reading before accepting a claim:

On our quality and certifications page you can see these fields on a real certificate: our yarn supplier's GRS, with its holder, its number, the issuing body and the products it covers.

How to check a GRS certificate in 6 steps

The GRS certificate is the document issued by an accredited certification body when a company passes the standard's audit. It is not enough to see the logo on a data sheet: check the document. When a supplier claims that a product has GRS certification, follow these steps:

1. Ask for the scope certificate and its number. It must state the holder, the issuing body, the products, the materials, the facilities and the date of validity.
2. Check it in the Textile Exchange database. Textile Exchange publishes a database of certified organisations at textileexchange.org: search for the holder or the number and confirm the certificate is in force.
3. Review exactly what it covers. A company may hold the GRS for one product line and not for another. Check that the product you are ordering, and its material, fall within the certified scope.
4. Check who the holder is. If the certificate belongs to a supplier in the chain, such as a spinning mill, it proves the origin of the yarn, not that the whole downstream chain is certified.
5. Ask for the transaction certificate for your order. On large orders, or ones you will report, the TC shows that your specific batch was produced with the certified material.
6. Confirm the recycled percentage. The product documentation must state the percentage of recycled content, which is the figure you will be able to communicate.

If any of these documents does not exist or does not match the product, treat the claim as unverified until the supplier clarifies it.

GRS certificate or transaction certificate: which to ask for with your order

The GRS scope certificate shows that a company is certified for certain products. The transaction certificate (TC) goes a step further: it proves that a specific shipment of certified material passed from one link in the chain to the next. For a small merchandise order, the supplier's certificate and written confirmation that your item is within its scope is usually enough. If you are going to include the order in an ESG report or a sustainability statement, also ask for the batch's TC or, at the very least, ask whether it can be obtained before the quote is closed.

GRS for ESG reports and Scope 3 emissions

Mandatory sustainability reporting rules vary by jurisdiction and company size. Even so, many companies that fall outside them receive requests from their customers for data on their purchases, including the Scope 3 emissions of goods purchased.

GRS-certified merchandise gives procurement teams:

• A verified recycled content percentage: a material figure you can cite together with its certificate
• Supply chain documentation: social and environmental requirements audited by third parties
• Third-party audited claims: more defensible against accusations of greenwashing
• Chain-of-custody records: traceable from raw material to finished product

The GRS does not calculate emissions: recycled content and carbon footprint are documented separately. That is why, in addition to the certificates, we provide an estimated carbon footprint per product and sustainability reports with Scope 3 data for the merchandise purchased. See our sustainability page for how we do it.

Checklist before you say your merchandise is recycled

Before saying on your website, in a press release or on the box itself that your corporate gifts are "recycled" or "GRS", run through this list:

1. You hold the supplier's valid GRS certificate and your item appears in its scope.
2. You know the recycled content percentage of the finished product, not only of the yarn.
3. If you want to use the GRS logo, your own company (or the one selling the final product) has to be certified; if not, limit the message to describing the material ("made with GRS-certified recycled polyester").
4. You keep the documentation: the certificate, the supplier's confirmation and, if applicable, the transaction certificate.
5. The message is specific and checkable. Avoid generic formulas such as "eco-friendly" or "environmentally friendly" with no data behind them.

If you want to go deeper into how to verify any sustainability claim, not only the GRS, read our guide to eco-friendly merchandise certifications, or see how certificates fit an ESG programme in our guide to ESG corporate gifts.

Frequently asked questions about the GRS certificate

What does GRS mean? GRS stands for Global Recycled Standard, a Textile Exchange certification. It verifies, through third-party audits, the recycled content of a material, its traceability in the supply chain and a set of social, environmental and chemical requirements.

Does the GRS mean the whole product is recycled? No. To obtain the certification, a product needs at least 20% recycled content, and to carry the GRS logo on the label, at least 50%. Always ask for the exact percentage of the product you are going to order.

Does a supplier's GRS certificate cover my order? Only if your product and its material are within the scope of the certificate and the rest of the chain is also certified, or the batch is documented with a transaction certificate. Ask for confirmation in writing before production.

What is the difference between GRS and RCS? Both are Textile Exchange standards on recycled content. The RCS (Recycled Claim Standard) verifies recycled content and chain of custody; the GRS adds social, environmental and chemical requirements.

Is the GRS the same as the GOTS? No. The GOTS certifies natural fibres of organic origin, such as organic cotton. The GRS certifies recycled content in any material, for example recycled polyester or cotton.

Can I say my personalised merchandise is GRS in my marketing? You can refer to your supplier's GRS certification and state the recycled content of the products you ordered. To use the GRS logo on packaging or in marketing, your own company needs a GRS scope certificate. Talk to a certification body such as Control Union, Bureau Veritas or Intertek.

How often are GRS certifications renewed? The scope certificate has a validity date and is maintained through periodic audits by the certification body. Always check that it is in force before citing it in an ESG report.

Does Zintora have the GRS certificate? No. The GRS certificate we publish belongs to our yarn supplier The Tenth House, not to Zintora, and covers the yarns listed on it. We check batch by batch whether an order is within its scope and confirm it in writing in the quote. You can ask us for the certificate at any time.

Summary: when to require GRS for corporate merchandise

• When you need documentable recycled content claims for ESG reports
• When your purchasing policy requires third-party sustainability verification
• When your brand makes public commitments on recycled or circular materials
• When you want a sustainability claim that stands up to scrutiny

For orders where GRS documentation matters, contact Zintora: we can confirm which products in the catalogue use GRS-certified materials and provide documentation for your records. If you want a full selection, see our branded merchandise range, or request a quote.