The OEKO-TEX® story

ISEAL supports ambitious sustainability systems and their partners to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges. In becoming an ISEAL Community Member, OEKO-TEX® joins a growing number of well-respected sustainability systems that are driving positive social and environmental change across multiple sectors. As an ISEAL Community Member, we strive to continuously improve our system to create greater impact.

The new management certification and tool helps brands and retailer to meet supply chain due diligence requirements in the textile and leather industry. It supports companies to prevent and mitigate existing and potential negative impacts of business operations within the own activities, the supply chains and in the wider business relationships.

We can look back on 30 years of OEKO-TEX®. We continue to offer transparency and orientation along the textile and leather value chain. For retailers and consumers. A big THANK YOU to all our partners, customers and friends for their trust in us.

The new Impact Calculator for STeP by OEKO-TEX® is a tool to measure and report production facilities' carbon emissions and water usage. The calculator gives a first estimate and evaluation of the materials and process steps that most influence their overall environmental impact.

MADE IN GREEN is growing fast and reached over 5,000 valid labels.

Our STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® certificate has reached a new milestone: 21'000 valid certificates have been awarded. OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 is an internationally recognized certification and guarantees that products are examined for the content of harmful substances.

A new GMO check for cotton and cotton products is being introduced for STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX®. The result of the test is a statement confirming whether the material sample contains genetically modified cotton or not.

OEKO-TEX® presents a new product label: The LEATHER STANDARD by OEKO-TEX® tests leather articles of all types for harmful substances. Companies in more than 100 countries along the entire textile/leather chain participate in the certification system.

The OEKO-TEX® Association celebrated together with the testing institutes and partners 25 years of safety and consumer protection.

OEKO-TEX® offers a new tool for textile companies that 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.

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

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, labeled products can be easily tracked and their origin determined. This provides a new level of transparency for businesses and consumers because they can track where the item was sold.

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

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.

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

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.

Young parents pay particular attention to the health of their newborns. For this reason, OEKO-TEX® launches a campaign in seven 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 babies welcome packs are distributed to mothers and young parents, for example, with OEKO-TEX® certified rompers and bibs.

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, emphasizes once again its importance as a leading global, independent label for textiles tested for harmful substances.

For the first time since the foundation 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.

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.

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.

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 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).

The OEKO-TEX® Association was founded by the Hohenstein Research Institute and the Austrian Textile Research Institute (OETI). Later, Testex (Textile Testing Institute) joined the Association.
From left to right are Raimar Freitag (Textile Testing Institute Testex), Prof. Wilhelm Herzog (Austrian Textile Research Institute), Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mecheels, Dr. Rainer Weckmann, Dieter Walden and 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.

The OEKO-TEX® Association was founded by the Hohenstein Research Institute and the Austrian Textile Research Institute (OETI). Later, Testex (Textile Testing Institute) joined the Association.

From left to right are Raimar Freitag (Textile Testing Institute Testex), Prof. Wilhelm Herzog (Austrian Textile Research Institute), Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mecheels, Dr. Rainer Weckmann, Dieter Walden and Dr. Stefan Mecheels (Hohenstein Research Institute).