Fair Wear Foundation: Recognition as Substantiation

Fair Wear Foundation as a Top Standard for Social Aspects: While GOTS and OEKO-TEX cover material and environmental aspects, the Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) is the leading international standard for social standards in the textile supply chain.

Membership Levels: 1. Leader — Exemplary, Audit Score >75 %. 2. Good — Solid, Score 51-75 %. 3. Improver — Learning, Score 25-50 %. 4. Suspended — Deficiencies, Re-audit within 12 months.

Substantiated vs. unsubstantiated — examples to illustrate the substantiation requirement: a specified claim such as “Fair Wear Foundation Member (Status: Good, Annual Audit 2024)", “Supplier Audit according to FWF Code of Labour Practices” or “CMT wage surcharge documented according to FWF Living Wage Calculator” refers to a verifiable basis. A generic claim such as “Fairly produced” or “Fair fashion” without quantification, by contrast, remains unsubstantiated for lack of evidence.

Living Wage as a USP: FWF has developed a Living Wage Calculator that calculates a living wage for each production country. Brands that pay a verified Living Wage have a clear EmpCo-compliant USP: “Living wage paid according to FWF Living Wage Methodology (average 2.4× local minimum wage)”.

Combined certification for Fashion Brands 2026: GOTS covers the material dimension and FWF the social dimension. Both certificates can be referenced simultaneously in collection advertising and together substantiate environmental and social claims under the EmpCo Directive.