Chain of custody
Also searched as: CoC, certified supply chain
A documented system for tracking a claimed material through successive organizations.
In detail
A chain-of-custody system connects a material claim to records and controls as goods pass between organizations. Under Textile Exchange certification, relevant supply-chain participants and transaction documentation help maintain the claimed material content through processing and trade. The exact rules depend on the standard and its current version.
The science and numbers
Chain-of-custody systems differ in how tightly the claim follows the physical material. Under segregation, certified material is kept physically apart; under mass balance, certified and uncertified inputs may mix while claims on outputs are capped by verified certified input; under book-and-claim, credits trade without a physical link. The audit logic is a conservation check: over a site boundary and reconciliation period, claimed output must not exceed certified input multiplied by a conversion factor, with losses and carry-over recorded. Textile Exchange's Content Claim Standard 3.0, launched in June 2021, relies on batch-level segregation and limits volume reconciliation to no more than three months. A scope certificate shows that a site is certified; a transaction certificate ties a specific shipment to that status and caps what the next buyer can claim. Laboratory tests can flag problems but cannot prove organic origin, so the documentary chain carries the claim.
A practical example
Imagine a spinner buying certified recycled fiber. Evidence needs to connect the incoming material, processing records and outgoing yarn claim. A supplier’s general certificate and documentation for a particular shipment answer different questions. Request evidence that matches the goods you are evaluating.
What to distinguish
A certification logo is not a complete account of every environmental or labor issue. Read its scope. Chain of custody supports specified claims; it should not be expanded into unrelated guarantees.
Origins and history
The phrase is borrowed from evidence handling, where every transfer of an item is recorded so its integrity can be shown later. Sustainability schemes adapted the idea for commodities such as palm oil, cocoa and forest products. In textiles, Textile Exchange, which began as Organic Exchange, built chain-of-custody rules around its content standards: the Organic Content Standard carries a 2013 copyright, its version 3.0 is dated 1 March 2020, and the Policy for Transaction Certificates reached version 3.1 on 1 October 2023. The Global Organic Textile Standard also uses transaction certificates.
Related terms
Sources & further reading
- Textile Exchange: Supply-chain certification
- Textile Exchange: Content Claim Standard 3.0
- Textile Exchange: Policy for Transaction Certificates ASR-104 V3.1
- Textile Exchange: Issue paper, approach to volume reconciliation (2021)
- Textile Exchange: Organic Content Standard 3.0 (OCS-101-V3.0)
Technical references reviewed 2026-09-22. Examples are illustrative. Industry organizations and manufacturers describe their own fields; their references are not independent product endorsements. Figures are approximate and depend on the stated test conditions.