Why Tikiri Toys is the First Baby Toy Brand in the World to Earn GOLS Certification

It started with a simple but powerful question: if we're going to make toys for babies, shouldn't we be able to prove every single ingredient is safe? Here's the story of how a Sri Lankan brand changed the global standard for baby toy safety — and what that means for parents here at home.

Picture a small workshop in Biyagama, just outside Colombo. It's 1991. A team of Sri Lankan craftspeople are hand-stitching stuffed toys — soft, careful work that requires patience, skill, and a genuine love for what they're making. Nobody in that workshop could have imagined that three decades later, the company they were building would be standing on a global stage, holding a world-first certification that no toy brand — anywhere on earth — had earned before them.

That company is DSL Lanka. That brand is Tikiri Toys. And the certification is GOLS — the Global Organic Latex Standard — the most rigorous independent standard for organic rubber products in the world.

In 2021, Tikiri became the first baby toy brand on the planet to earn GOLS accreditation. Not the first in Sri Lanka. Not the first in Asia. The first in the world. For Sri Lankan parents, this is more than a story about a certification. It's a story about a local brand that refused to cut corners — and ended up setting the global bar for what a safe, organic, non-toxic baby toy should look like.

1991	56+	#1
Year DSL Lanka was founded	Countries where Tikiri Toys are sold	First baby toy brand globally to earn GOLS

It Started With a Question That Most Brands Never Ask!

When Tikiri Toys began making organic rubber baby toys, the team behind DSL Lanka kept running into a problem. They were sourcing natural rubber from certified organic plantations right here in Sri Lanka. They were using plant-based, non-toxic dyes. They were building toys without BPA, phthalates, or PVC. The product was genuinely clean, genuinely safe.

But there was no standard that could formally verify all of that. For fabrics, there was GOTS — the Global Organic Textile Standard, a rigorous and globally respected certification. But for latex rubber? Nothing. No equivalent standard existed for the rubber components of baby toys. The gap was startling.

Most brands would have left it there. After all, if there's no official standard to fail, you never have to worry about failing. But the Tikiri team made a different decision. Instead of walking around the gap, they decided to help close it.

Working with Control Union Certifications — one of the world's most respected independent certification bodies — Tikiri Toys actively participated in developing GOLS as a standard that could finally apply to organic latex products in the toy industry. And when the standard was ready, they were the first to apply for it, the first to be audited against it, and the first to receive it.

That's not a brand that earned a certification. That's a brand that helped create the category.

GOLS was initiated by Tikiri Toys themselves

The GOLS accreditation didn't exist for baby toys before Tikiri pursued it. Recognising an industry-wide gap, DSL Lanka worked with Control Union Certifications to establish the standard — and became its first certified recipient. This is a brand that didn't just meet the bar. They helped set it.

Sri Lanka's Rubber is the Heart of the Story

To understand why GOLS matters for Tikiri Toys, you need to understand the material at the centre of it all — and why Sri Lanka is the perfect place to make it.

Natural rubber, or latex, is harvested from the Hevea brasiliensis rubber tree — and Sri Lanka has been growing these trees since the 1870s. The island's warm, wet climate in the south-western zone creates ideal conditions for rubber cultivation. Today, Sri Lanka is one of the world's finest producers of natural rubber, with over 133,000 hectares of rubber plantations across the country and nearly 200,000 people employed in the industry.

Tikiri Toys sources its organic latex from small, certified organic plantations right here in Sri Lanka. These are not industrial monocultures. They are carefully managed smallholdings where rubber tappers — many of them women, following a craft passed down through generations — make precise, gentle incisions in the bark of mature trees to collect the flowing sap. The trees are never harmed. A well-maintained rubber tree can produce latex for 25–30 years.

But here's the critical distinction. The rubber from these trees is certified organic. That means no synthetic pesticides, no chemical fertilisers, and no harmful processing agents throughout the manufacturing chain. It is this verifiable purity — from plantation to toy — that GOLS certification locks down and guarantees.

When you hold a Tikiri toy in your hand, the rubber in it began its journey a few hours' drive from Colombo, on a sun-drenched hillside, in a country that has been tending rubber trees for over 150 years. There's something quietly beautiful about that.

The Journey: From Humble Workshop to World First

1991

The Beginning

DSL Lanka starts as a small stuffed toy manufacturer in Biyagama, Sri Lanka — handcrafting soft toys for international brands from a modest production facility.

2013

Tikiri Toys is Born

DSL Lanka officially launches the Tikiri brand with the Bonikka collection — beautifully handcrafted rag dolls inspired by a family heirloom. Sri Lanka's first organic soft toy brand for export.

2015

Entering the World of Organic Rubber

DSL Lanka opens its first rubber toy manufacturing plant on August 6th, marking Tikiri's move into organic natural rubber baby toys — teethers, rattles, and bath toys.

2016

Meiya & Alvin Launches

The beloved Meiya & Alvin collection debuts, combining organic rubber and GOTS-certified plush. It quickly becomes a global phenomenon, sold in over 56 countries.

2020

Most Ethical Gift — NEC Spring Fair, UK

Tikiri Toys wins the Most Ethical Gift award at the prestigious NEC Spring Fair in the UK — international recognition of the brand's commitment to ethical, sustainable manufacturing.

2021

The World First: GOLS Certification

Tikiri Toys becomes the first baby toy brand in the world to earn GOLS (Global Organic Latex Standard) accreditation — a milestone announced across Sri Lanka's national business press.

2025

Refreshed for Sri Lanka

Tikiri launches a refreshed product range for the Sri Lankan market — bringing world-class GOLS-certified organic baby toys home, for the parents who deserve to know their island made them.

What GOLS Actually Means — In Plain Language

Certifications can feel abstract. A logo on a label, a line of text on a website. So let's make this concrete — what did Tikiri Toys actually have to prove to earn GOLS certification?

GOLS is administered by Control Union Certifications, one of the largest and most respected independent certification bodies in the world. To earn and maintain the accreditation, Tikiri meets all of the following criteria — and is audited annually to ensure they remain compliant.

95% Certified Organic Latex

The finished toy must contain more than 95% certified organic raw material. Not just "natural" rubber — provably organic, from plantation to product.

Strict Chemical Limits

Products must not exceed allowable limits for emission testing, polymer percentages, filler percentages, and harmful substances — verified by independent laboratory testing.

Full Supply Chain Traceability

GOLS issues transaction certificates at every stage — plantation, manufacturer, and retailer. Every batch of rubber used by Tikiri can be traced back to its organic source.

Social & Environmental Standards

Fair employment, safe working conditions, responsible waste management, and eco-friendly practices must be upheld at every level of the supply chain — not just in the product itself.

Annual Independent Audits

This is not a one-time award. Control Union audits Tikiri every year to ensure continued compliance. The certification must be re-earned, not simply held.

GOLS-Approved Manufacturing

The manufacturing facility itself must meet GOLS standards — not just the raw material. The way the toy is made is as important as what it's made from.

What This Means for Parents in Sri Lanka

As parents in Sri Lanka, we navigate a unique mix of deep love for natural, traditional remedies and a growing awareness of what's actually in the modern products we bring into our homes. We've always known that natural is better — coconut oil over lotion, home-cooked over processed, fresh over packaged. We apply that same instinct to our children.

But when it comes to baby toys, "natural" has become a marketing word. Walk through any supermarket or browse any online store, and you'll find toys labelled "natural," "eco-friendly," and "non-toxic" with no independent body verifying any of it. As parents, we're left to trust the packaging.

GOLS changes that. When you see the GOLS mark on a Tikiri toy, you're not trusting a claim. You're trusting a standard — one that was independently verified, annually audited, and so rigorous that no other baby toy brand in the world had met it before Tikiri did.

What GOLS certification means for your baby, practically speaking:

No hidden chemicals in what your baby chews. Every rubber teether, rattle, and bath toy is made from latex that has been independently verified to contain no harmful chemical residues — not BPA, not phthalates, not PVC, not heavy metal dyes.

The "organic" claim is proven, not printed. Unlike the word "natural," GOLS certification requires laboratory testing and third-party inspection. It cannot be self-declared by a brand.

You can trace where the rubber came from. GOLS requires transaction certificates at every stage of the supply chain. The rubber in a Tikiri toy is traceable back to its organic plantation in Sri Lanka.

The toy is environmentally responsible, not just safe. GOLS covers social and environmental standards too — meaning fair wages for the workers who made it, responsible waste practices, and eco-friendly production methods.

The certification is renewed every year. You're not relying on a badge earned years ago and never revisited. Tikiri is re-audited annually — the standard must be maintained, not just achieved once.

A Sri Lankan Brand That Changed a Global Standard

There's something we don't talk about enough in Sri Lanka — the extraordinary quality of what we make here. We tend to export brilliance quietly. Our rubber is some of the finest in the world. Our craftspeople are skilled in ways that can't be replicated by a machine. Our commitment to ethical, sustainable manufacturing has quietly built an industry that is now recognised on five continents.

Tikiri Toys is a perfect expression of all of that. It was born here. It sources its core material here. It employs its people here. It was designed here. And when the world needed a new standard for safe, organic baby toys, it was a Sri Lankan brand that stepped up and made it happen.

The Meiya & Alvin collection is sold in over 56 countries. The Bonikka rag doll collection is described internationally as a phenomenon. DSL Lanka has won the Presidential Export Award multiple times and the Most Ethical Gift award at the UK's NEC Spring Fair. Nearly 2 million Tikiri toys have been shipped in a single year, contributing meaningfully to Sri Lanka's GDP.

And now, with the refreshed Tikiri range available in Sri Lanka, parents here at home can finally hold the very toys that are trusted by families in London, New York, Tokyo, and Sydney — knowing they were made with love, a short drive away, to a standard that no one else in the world has matched.

GOLS is Just One Part of the Picture

As remarkable as the GOLS certification is, it's worth knowing that Tikiri Toys doesn't stop there. The brand's commitment to safety, ethics, and sustainability runs across every single material and process:

GOTS — Global Organic Textile Standard

All fabric components — the plush, the cotton filling, the soft outer layers of comforter toys — are made using GOTS-certified organic cotton. GOTS is to fabrics what GOLS is to rubber: the world's most respected certification for organic textile processing.

OCS 100 & GRS Certified

Tikiri's stuffing uses material reclaimed from recycled plastic bottles — a creative, sustainable choice that also reduces the risk of mould (wet natural fillings are prone to it). The OCS 100 (Organic Content Standard) and GRS (Global Recycled Standard) certifications verify the organic and recycled content independently.

SEDEX & BSCI — Ethical Working Conditions

SEDEX and BSCI are international standards for ethical supply chains and fair working conditions. Tikiri's factories are certified under both — meaning the people who make these toys are treated with the same care that goes into making them.

Hand-Painted with Plant-Based Dyes

Every colour you see on a Tikiri rubber toy has been applied by hand, using plant-based, non-toxic dyes. No heavy metals. No synthetic colourants. Just safe, beautiful, hand-painted play.

Recycled Packaging

Even the box your Tikiri toy arrives in is made from recycled board, printed with soy-based inks. The commitment to the environment doesn't stop when the toy is finished.

The Simplest Reason to Choose Tikiri

As parents, we spend a lot of time second-guessing ourselves. Did I choose the right formula? Is this sleeping position okay? Should I be worried about that ingredient? The mental load of keeping a tiny human safe is enormous — and it doesn't need to be made heavier by uncertainty about the toys in their hands and mouths.

Tikiri Toys exists to remove that uncertainty. Every toy is made from organic rubber that can be traced back to a certified organic plantation in Sri Lanka. Every fabric component is GOTS certified. Every product is audited independently, every year, against the world's most rigorous standards. And it all happens a short drive from Colombo, by skilled Sri Lankan hands that have been doing this since 1991.

The GOLS certification isn't a marketing point. It's proof. And it was earned — for the first time, by any baby toy brand anywhere in the world — right here in Sri Lanka.

That's something worth knowing. And worth celebrating.

The Complete Guide to Organic Baby Toy Certifications: GOLS, GOTS & What They Mean for Your Baby