Pilot: Version used for pilot testing and policy/system updates during 2024 and 2025. Criteria used for auditing has been drafted, consulted and tested on the ground for feasibility.

Published: Final version of the standard that will become available for auditing and certification on December 12, 2025. Criteria are finalized after amendments have been made from pilot testing. The final standard and policies that support implementation of the standard are released to the public on the published date, but the standard is not yet available for certificates to be issued. 

Effective: The published version of the standard will state an effective date that represents when certification bodies may start auditing and issuing certificates against the new standard. An ideal period of time from the published date to the effective date is 6–months to allow all standard users time to adjust their systems, including training and documentation, and be ready for audits with the new standard. The period of time between the effective date and mandatory allows some audits to move forward on a voluntary basis. 

Mandatory: The published version of the standard will state the mandatory date that specifies when all applicable audits from this date onwards are required against the new standard. Applicable audits represent certificate scopes for current standards that are superseded by the Materials Matter Standard. Our policies state that the mandatory date shall be a minimum of 12 months from the published date.

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Today, the CCS serves as the standalone chain of custody standard, and it will continue to do so in the future. The CCS is mandatory for all supply chain participants, including brands, which take custody of certified material after the first processing stage. Conformance with the CCS continues to be necessary to sell certified products and make claims about them. Once the Materials Matter Standard is in use, it will operate with the CCS the same way as the current Textile Exchange input standards (GRS, RCS, OCS, RWS, RMS, RAS, RDS). 

Our supply chain taxonomy includes first processors in tier 4, such as wool scourers, recyclers, pulp manufacturers, and gins. For first stage processors that are not already certified to the GRS, the Materials Matter Standard does create significant change in terms of including environmental and social criteria as defined in the principles for human rights & livelihoods and processing facility. 

Under the Materials Matter system, brands will also need to be certified to the CCS to make use of claims and labeling as they are now.

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To promote closed-loop recycling we have introduced a new leadership criterion that requires that feedstock for recycling come from reclaimed pre- and post-textile inputs; in other words, organizations are encouraged to promote textile-to-textile recycling.

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Yak is not included in the rollout of the Materials Matter Standard for 2025, but we are discussing internally if and how we will expand the scope of our standards systems in the long term. The Materials Matter Standard currently includes the animal fibers that are already covered under the Responsible Animal Fibers as well as other strategic materials. As we learn from the initial piloting and rollout of the Materials Matter Standard in 2024/25, we will revisit and align the Materials Matter Standard scope with our overarching strategic decisions. Textile Exchange is currently developing a strategic approach to establish a more comprehensive material scope by material category across our portfolio of tools and resources.

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