Lynn H.

You may not be getting what you think you're paying for. Primary.com advertises GOTS certified and OEKO-TEX certified organic cotton on many kids and adults products they sell. I purchased several hundred dollars of only their advertised GOTS or OEKO-TEX items. When they arrived none were labeled or tagged GOTS or OEKO-TEX.

I called Primary and requested their GOTS and OEKO-TEX certificate numbers to check them through the respective websites. The representative I spoke to acted like he'd never heard of GOTS or OEKO-TEX so I had to explain that the items are required to be labeled or tagged either GOTS, or OEKO-TEX, with a certification number. I also asked that if Primary.com was not certified directly, would they please provide their manufacturer's certificate number (if they use an outside manufacturer) or if they manufacture themselves but only their fabric providers are certified, then would they please provide their fabric providers GOTS number.

Note – GOTS requires that either the seller (such as primary) must be directly certified themselves, or if not then the manufacturer they use, or the fabric provider(s) must be certified. If the certificate comes through a separate manufacturer or fabric provider then the seller (Primary) must also provide a certificate of sales from the manufacturer or fabric provider that guarantees Primary obtained the certified organic textiles from these sources. (GOTS, and to a lesser extent OEKO-TEX, have VERY specific requirements before anyone can claim a textile is certified organic through them.)

The Primary.com representative I spoke with promised someone would get get back to me. They did not. Then they ignored my 2 follow up emails requesting this info. I finally reported them to GOTS, but nothing became of it to my knowledge.

GOTS and OEKO-TEX are very clear that sellers cannot advertise they are selling organic textiles certified by them unless the product arrives with a label or a tag that includes the unique certification number, which can be checked/confirmed for legitimacy through the GOTS or OEKO websites. The seller is NOT allowed to ignore this labeling requirement, and is also required to provide their certification number upon request. They lose their certification status if these requirements are not followed.

Primary does not comply with any of the GOTS or OEKO-TEX requirements but continues to falsely advertise that many of their items are certified organic through them, including all the items I purchased. This is not only purposely deceptive but it violates Consumer Protection Laws for false advertising through Deceptive Description.

If Primary's clothing were indeed organic (which they are not) then my review would have been 3 stars: The long sleeved T-shirts are thick and very soft, until they have been washed repeatedly where they lose their softness and the fabric also begins to pill. The short sleeved T-shirts are thin and rough. Their prices would be considered excellent for truly certified organic fabric, which would earn an extra star. But they clearly are not certified organic, and regardless, for the level of fabric quality their prices are far too high – the big box stores provide better quality and at much better prices. I've found Maggie's Organics to be the best prices for legitimate GOTS certified organic socks and clothing, with generally pretty good quality, but with less than stellar customer service. (I have no connection to Maggie's.)

In 2019 Forbes listed Primary as a publicly traded company with over 30 million in annual sales and 59 employees. Just goes to show that even Forbes-listed companies can be scammers.