As the Winter Olympic Games in Italy capture the world's attention, we focus on the question of how important transparency in the sportswear sector is.
We spoke with Austrian brand Löffler about their approach to traceable and transparent production.
Löffler produces functional sportswear for endurance athletes and has obtained its first OEKO-TEX® MADE IN GREEN label from our testing institute OETI in 2022. For Löffler, responsible sportswear means the most careful use of resources combined with durability and repairability. It is also a reflection of the brand’s decades-long commitment to responsible production and social responsibility along the supply chain.
Read the interview to learn about Löffler's decision to adopt OEKO-TEX® MADE IN GREEN and about how the label supports their credible communication.
OEKO-TEX®: What convinced you to label your products with OEKO-TEX® MADE IN GREEN?
LÖFFLER: MADE IN GREEN convinced us because the label makes visible precisely what LÖFFLER has stood for over decades: responsible production, highest quality and transparency along the entire supply chain. It combines product safety with sustainable manufacturing and social responsibility and makes these values clear and comprehensible for end-consumers.
What are today's end-consumer expectations when buying sportswear? In your opinion, do certifications play a role in purchasing decisions?
Today's end-consumers expect, alongside functionality and quality, increasingly transparency, sustainability and credible information about the origin of products.
Certifications are of crucial importance in this context, as they provide orientation and establish independent, reliable criteria. This is particularly significant in a market in which sustainability is often communicated in very different ways.
How important is traceability in the sportswear sector?
From our professional perspective, traceability represents a central factor for the future. It creates trust, enables conscious purchasing decisions and is the foundation for genuine sustainability. Particularly in the sportswear industry, which is global and complex, transparency is increasingly becoming a mark of quality.
Your production facilities have been STeP certified since 2014. What was your motivation as a company to apply for this certification back then?
Our objective was to subject our longstanding commitment to environmental and social standards to external review and to obtain confirmation of the standards. Already back then STeP offered us a comprehensive approach to evaluate sustainable production holistically – from environmental management through occupational safety to social responsibility.
How has OEKO-TEX® MADE IN GREEN supported your supply chain in terms of transparency and sustainability?
MADE IN GREEN supports us in presenting our existing, very regional and controlled supply chain in a structured and credible manner. Through the complete traceability of all production stages, we not only strengthen internal processes but also create trust amongst our customers. We show transparently where and under what conditions our products are made.
If you could give advice to a company considering OEKO-TEX® MADE IN GREEN today, what would you say based on your experience?
Our advice is to view MADE IN GREEN not only as a label, but as a holistic approach. An approach which enables you to scrutinise processes, develop them further and communicate these credibly. An open engagement with transparency pays off in the long term – both internally and externally.
