Oeko-Tex webinar to review updates to Standard 100

The OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certification ensures that textile products are tested for more than 300 substances that are considered to be dangerous to human health.

Based on developments in textile production technology and chemistry, changes in global product safety regulations, and advances in medical knowledge, the OEKO-TEX Association routinely evaluates and adjusts its list of concerning substances, the permissible limit values for those substances, and the test methodologies used to measure.

The 2014 updates include revisions to specifically support the apparel and footwear industry’s "Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC)" initiative to exclude hazardous chemicals from the textile production process by 2020 as well as the EU’s REACh regulations and other global efforts to increase textile product safety and improve the supply chain’s environmental footprint.

The key updates for 2014 include:

- Stricter requirements for perfluorooctanic acid (PFOA) and the addition of four longer-chained, perfluorinated compounds to the catalog.

- More restrictive limit values for nonylphenol (NP), octylphenol (OP), nonylphenol ethoxylates (NP(EO)), and octylphenol ethoxylates (OP(EO)).

- Addition of a check on all trichlorophenols (TrCP).

- Inclusion of dinosebacetate in the list of banned pesticides.

-Identification of specific limit values for seven additional substances on the list of twenty-four regulated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

About OEKO-TEX

The International OEKO-TEX Association, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, was founded in 1992 by the Austrian Textile Research Institute and the German Hohenstein Research Institutes. Currently, its membership includes 16 independent textile research and testing institutes with 52 offices in 60 countries.

To date, nearly 125,000 OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certificates have been issued—with more than 12,500 issued per year—and 9,500 companies in 90 countries are working with OEKO-TEX to ensure that their products are tested for potentially harmful substances.

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