During their young lives, babies, children and adolescents come into contact with many textile products and leather goods including bedding, towelling, baby sheepskins, play rugs, baby carriers and car seats, backpacks, pillows and blankets, strollers and, of course, clothing to name just a few.
For many parents, in addition to the fashion and financial aspects, the question of health safety is important. To simplify this buying decision for parents, Oeko-Tex offers three labels that communicate at a glance that the articles bearing them have been successfully examined for harmful substances.
With the Standard 100 by Oeko-Tex and the new Leather Standard by Oeko-Tex, Oeko-Tex makes consumer labels available to retailers and manufacturers to help address the growing and affluent target group of health-conscious parents directly with respect to effective product safety.
Standard 100 by Oeko-Tex
Since 1992, the Standard 100 by Oeko-Tex label has been an independent certification for products throughout the textiles value chain. The strictest criteria apply to Product Class I, which covers articles for babies and toddlers up to the age of 36 months, such as clothing, bibs or bedding. The more intensive the skin contact, the stricter the limit values, which cannot be exceeded.
The tests for harmful substances comprise legally banned and controlled substances and chemicals, as well as chemicals for which the detrimental impact on health is known but not yet subject to any legal controls. The requirements of the Standard 100 go beyond the existing national legislation. Products are only marked with the Standard 100 label if all constituent parts, such as metal buttons or plastic zippers, fulfil the required criteria.
Standard 100 by Oeko-Tex - Supplement for special items
So that parents can also be certain that other products with textile components have been tested for harmful substances, in addition to the standard textiles and garments, Oeko-Tex also offers an addition to the Standard 100 – a supplement for special items.
These are products that cannot be covered by the Oeko-Tex testing system as a whole, but their textile components can be tested in accordance with the Standard 100 test criteria. Examples of this are outer fabrics and inserts of strollers, bassinets, school backpacks, helmets, heating cushions and heating blankets, chairs and loungers or toys, and more.
As with the Standard 100 for textiles, with the supplement for special items, the prescribed limit values are also standardised, so that it does not make any difference where the products are manufactured or sold.
Leather Standard by Oeko-Tex
The Leather Standard is the latest label in the Oeko-Tex portfolio and now also includes leather products in the demanding Oeko-Tex tests for harmful substances. Since the beginning of 2017, retail companies, retailers and producers of leather materials are able to certify leather goods, such as sheepskins, jackets, children’s backpacks, belts or bags.
Whether a children’s article is made completely of fabric or leather or only contains textile components, Oeko-Tex has a certification system in order to ensure higher product safety of textiles and leather goods used by children.