RCS.

The Global Recycled Standard’s sibling from Textile Exchange, at version 3.0 since July 2026 and mandatory for audits from 31 December 2026. The threshold is where it parts company with GRS: section A3.1a of the standard applies it to products containing 5 % or more recycled content, against 20 % for GRS. What it leaves out is the part buyers assume is included, and the standard says so in plain words: the RCS does not address social or environmental aspects of processing and manufacturing, quality, or legal compliance. It verifies that recycled material went in, using the ISO 14021 definition of recycled content, and that the chain of custody holds to the last business-to-business seller. The pair get sold as one badge on blank listings, “RCS/GRS certified”, which flattens a traceability check and a processing standard into the same claim; ask which one, and at what percentage, before it lands in your own copy.