TGS is working to consistently update its criteria and standards in accordance with “best practices” adopted by designers, retailers, and manufacturers around the world.

TGS has adopted the following criteria to evaluate designer applicants.

FAIR / ETHICAL TRADE : responsibility towards human rights, reasonable work hours, no child labor, the right to unionize, a fair living wage, higher environmental and social standards. No direct environmental influences that have an impact on people in the work­place in the form of vapors, gases, dust particles, noise, and temperature.

LOCAL : Designed and constructed in your local community.

CUSTOM / TAILOR MADE : Also called demi-couture or made-to-order. This is a way of encouraging quality and “slow fashion” over mass-produced disposable fashion.

CRAFT / ARTISAN : Products that have been crafted using artisan skills (e.g. embroidery), which preserve and perpetuate ancestral traditions.

ECO PRINTING : Use of environmentally responsible paper printing process.

ORGANIC / NATURAL TEXTILES AND MATERIALS : Fabric from natural sources like bamboo, SeaCell® (seaweed), Ingeo™ (corn), milk-fiber, hemp, nettle, wool, peace silk, soy silk, wood, rubber, cork, cupro and exotic sustaining plants. Natural fibers grown without any pesticides and/or other toxic materials, preserving the health of humans and the environment. The process of organic growth can be certified by various organizations.

RECYCLED / REBORN : Created with reclaimed, recycled or re-purposed materials. Anything that has been made from already existing materials, fabrics, metals or fibers. These are often reclaimed from previously made clothing and accessories and reworked into new ones. Fibers can also be re-purposed from pre-existing fabric, re-spun and reused for new garments.

VINTAGE / SECOND HAND : Vintage is a generic term for new or second hand garments created in the period from the 1920’s to 1980’s. However, the term is often used more generally for second-hand clothes or up-cycled clothes. Articles of clothing that have been given a new life through some sort of customization.

LOW IMPACT : Dyes made from a class of colorants extracted from vegetable matter: berries, seeds, bark, leaves, and roots.

FABRIC WASTE REDUCTION : In the production cycle, as little fabric waste as possible in cutting and sewing process.

GREEN MARKETING : Offsets, packaging, labeling, promotion, business cards.

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE : Promoting an awareness of environmental and/or social issues. Participating in eco programs.

RESOURCE EFFICIENCY : Generate the greatest possible benefit using the smallest possible quantity of natural resources, e.g. water-efficient closed loop, no substances that enter the wastewater path via a wet process.