Our story

A new cooperation between OEKO-TEX® and the AMD Akademie Mode & Design (Academy for Fashion & Design) in Germany was launched on 10 April. By sponsoring a design competition, OEKO-TEX® supports the second semester of the 'Fashion Design (B.A.)' course and thus promotes the discussion with regard to product safety and greater sustainability in the production of textiles.

The OEKO-TEX® Association would like to thank you for 25 years of loyalty and is looking forward to enabling consumers and companies to continue to make responsible decisions to protect our planet in the future.

OEKO-TEX® presents a new product label: The LEATHER STANDARD by OEKO-TEX® tests leather articles of all types for harmful substances.

From April, OEKO-TEX® offers a new certification for sustainable textile chemicals with the ECO PASSPORT. The ECO PASSPORT is a two-stage verification process which manufacturers of process chemicals and chemical compounds can use to prove that their products meet the criteria for environmentally textile production.

With immediate effect, OEKO-TEX® offers a new tool for textile companies who have committed to meeting the targets of the Greenpeace Detox campaign by the year 2020. DETOX TO ZERO enables production facilities along the textile chain to assess the status of their chemicals management systems and the quality of their waste water and sludge and to have these documented through credible independent verification.

The new MADE IN GREEN by OEKO-TEX® label sets benchmarks with regard to transparency: the manufacture of a textile can be tracked. Labelled textiles are tested for harmful substances, manufactured in an environmentally friendly way and produced under fair working conditions.

On the new Made in Green consumer website labelled products can be easily tracked and their origin determined.

The consumer website www.siegelklarheit.de from the Federal Government rates the MADE IN GREEN label as a "Very good choice" with regard to transparency in sustainable production.

OEKO-TEX® presents the new MySTEP tool at Texworld USA. It is a database in which a textile company can manage their supply chains in a transparent and efficient manner according to sustainable points of view

OEKO-TEX® honours five textile companies with the Sustainability Award to recognise their aboveaverage commitment to sustainability. The prize is awarded in the five categories of Environmental Performance, Social Responsibility, Quality Management, Safety Management and Product Innovation.

The new STeP by OEKO-TEX® certification replaces the previous OEKO-TEX® Standard 1000. STeP is an integrated system for the analysis and evaluation of sustainable production conditions (environmentally friendly processes, socially responsible working conditions) in production facilities along the textile value chain.

The OEKO-TEX® Association celebrates its 20-year anniversary with numerous actions and campaigns. For example, the mascot Texolotl, which informs parents and children about the benefits of textiles tested for harmful substances. Or the Sales Pro Games around the Olympic Games in London - a competition for sales people in retail outlets.

In its stores in the German-speaking region, C&A uses the OEKO-TEX® mascot Texolotl to advertise its range of textiles for babies, children and young people that have been tested for harmful substances.

For the 20-year anniversary, OEKO-TEX® publishes a cookery book to which teams from all OEKO-TEX® member institutes and contact offices around the world contribute their favourite recipes. We hope you try out the tasty dishes and enjoy your meal.

Young parents pay particular attention to the health of their new-borns. For this reason, OEKOTEX® launches a campaign in 7 European countries to inform this target group of the particular benefits of textiles that have been tested for harmful substances. A total of 298,000 baby welcome packs are distributed to mothers and young parents, for example, with OEKO-TEX® certified rompers and bibs. The promotion is accompanied by a Facebook campaign.

At the end of February, the OEKO-TEX® Association issues the hundred-thousandth OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 certificate since the formation of the certification system and, in doing this, emphasises once again its importance as a leading global, independent label for textiles tested for harmful substances.

OEKO-TEX® has been an industrial partner of vds-Super-Cup since 2011. The annual event is Europe's largest sales and training evening in the sports articles sector and since 1985, around 1,500 sales persons from the German-speaking region have taken part each year.

A new info film presents the benefits of textiles tested for harmful substances with the OEKOTEX® Standard 100 label to interested consumers. Brands, manufacturers and retailers can use the film to advertise their OEKO-TEX® certified product range.

For the first time since the establishment of the OEKO-TEX® Standard 100, the OEKO-TEX® Association exceeded the record level of over 10,000 valid certificates in 12 months for the first time in November 2009. The 10,000th certificate was issued to the company Anvil Knitwear (USA) by the Hohenstein Textile Testing Institute for its dyed and printed cotton T-shirts.

With a redesigned stand, the OEKO-TEX® Association took part in the ITMA, the world's leading trade fair for textile machines, for the first time. For eight days, contact partners from almost all OEKO-TEX® member institutes and numerous contact offices around the world inform visitors to the trade fair about the OEKO-TEX® certifications.

Before the "summer fairy tale" starts with the football world cup in Germany, 32 junior teams found their champion during a Mini-Kids Cup organised by the Frankfurt Social Welfare Organisation. OEKO-TEX® is a sponsor of the football tournament.

Not just left on the sidelines: Jutta Knels (left), former Director of the OEKO-TEX® certification centre and Steffi Jones (2nd from left), patron of the Mini Football Tournament, world and European champion and current trainer of the German women's national football team with the young participants in the Mini-Kids Cup.

OEKO-TEX® participates in the cpd / Bodylook trade fair with its own info stand, advertises in the outside area with the hot air balloon "OEKO-TEX® Number One" and, together with OEKO-TEX® certified manufacturers, organises a fashion show for body and beachwear featuring textiles that have been tested for harmful substances.

On September 8, the hot air balloon "OEKO-TEX® Number One" takes off on its maiden voyage. Over the next 7 years, OEKO-TEX® wants to take this unusual approach to make all consumers aware of the benefits of textiles tested for harmful substances.

OEKO-TEX® also presents a fashion show at the leading international trade fair for occupational health and safety in Düsseldorf in conjunction with manufacturers of textiles tested for harmful substances. It shows the range of products with the STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® label, from work clothing, corporate fashion to personal protective equipment (PPE).

As a small customer gift for trade fairs and other events, an OEKO-TEX® bath towel is available from December in the colours of the campaign "Feel good with OEKO-TEX®". The manufacturer is the company Dyckhoff in Rheine/Westphalia, a brand supplier of high quality towels.

Part of the "Feel good with OEKO-TEX®" advertising campaign focuses on baby articles. As small children have particularly sensitive skin, baby textiles that have been tested for harmful substances are a real benefit for little ones and their parents. The STANDARD 100 by OEKOTEX® label offers reliable security when purchasing products of this type.

During the Heimtextil trade fair, OEKO-TEX® takes a large billboard at Frankfurt main station as part of the current advertising campaign.

The campaign focusses on popular funny illustrated animal motifs. The message "Feel good with OEKO-TEX®" is communicated in a playful, non-instructive way and facilitates access to the topic of human-ecologically optimised textiles.

From January, OEKO-TEX® runs a short cinema advert on textiles tested for harmful substances in 336 cinemas and 121 German cities. The film is part of the advertising campaign "Einfach - Anziehend" (simple - inviting).

As part of “Einfach – Anziehend” campaign, OEKO-TEX® distributes advertising posters and counter displays with info materials to a total of 13,128 home furnishing shops to make the retailers aware of the benefits of textiles tested for harmful substances in advance of the Heimtextil trade fair in January. In the course of the year, OEKO-TEX® had already informed about baby articles. The campaign expands to sports textiles in the following year.

The first OEKO-TEX® contact office in Asia is opened with the new subsidiary of the Swiss textile testing institute Testex. In the photo: Raimar Freitag (Testex CEO, left), Tak Him Chan (Director of new Asia subsidiary, right).

As a supplement to the product-based tests for harmful substances as per the OEKO-TEX® Standard 100, the OEKO-TEX® Association launches an additional certification onto the market - the OEKO-TEX® Standard 1000 for proven environmentally friendly and socially responsible production facilities in the textile chain.

The Swiss textile testing institute Testex becomes the third member of the OEKO-TEX® Association. The three institute directors sign the first statutes of the "International Association for Research and Testing in the Field of Textile Ecology (OEKOTEX®): Raimar Freitag (Testex), Prof. Wilhelm Herzog (Austrian textile research institute), Prof. Jürgen Mecheels (Hohenstein research institute) (l-r).

Left to right: Raimar Freitag (Testex textile testing institute), Prof. Wilhelm Herzog (Austrian textile research institute), Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mecheels, Dr. Rainer Weckmann, Dieter Walden, Dr. Stefan Mecheels (Hohenstein research institute)

At the Interstoff trade fair in April 1992, OEKO-TEX® first introduces the STANDARD 100 as a label for textiles tested for harmful substances and offers consumers reliable assistance in the purchase of harmless textile products of all type.