Ganesh Kasekar has been appointed as the new GOTS Representative in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka). Ganesh, based in Mumbai, takes over the role of Sumit Gupta, the previous GOTS Regional Representative in India and Bangladesh with the additional countries Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Sumit will from now on serve as Head of Quality Assurance and Implementation.
Ganesh is a Textile Chemistry alumni of the prestigious institute VJTI in Mumbai and he holds over 17 years of experience in the textile industry with a special background in inspection and certification in supply chains. In his former position as Business Development Manager, he has already been involved with supply chain stakeholders internationally, contributing to quality assurance requirements in the textile and leather goods industry.
The newly created position as Head of Quality Assurance and Implementation is taking account of the increasing workload GOTS is facing because of fast growing numbers of certified operations.
GOTS is the stringent voluntary global standard for the entire post-harvest processing (including spinning, knitting, weaving, dyeing and manufacturing) of apparel and home textiles made with certified organic fibre (such as organic cotton and organic wool), and includes both environmental and social criteria. Key provisions include a ban on the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), highly hazardous chemicals (such as azo dyes and formaldehyde), and child labour, while requiring strong social compliance management systems and strict waste water treatment practices.
GOTS was developed by leading international standard setters – Organic Trade Association (US), Japan Organic Cotton Association, International Association Natural Textile Industry (Germany), and Soil Association (UK) to define globally-recognised requirements that ensure the organic status of textiles, from field to finished product.
