Do you want to ensure that your product is certified with one of our standards? You can follow the journey of your garment from production to the final product. Thanks to our Label Check you can easily check the certification validity or its scope. It is possible thanks to a unique label number or QR code you can find on each product.
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Watch the video and visit a STeP certified facility in Portugal
We strive for safer workplaces, and responsible practices. Our OEKO-TEX® STeP certification enables a holistic consideration of manufacturing conditions from a sustainable point of view.
STeP refers to the International Labour Organization (ILO) core conventions, which cover topics such as the prevention of child labour and discrimination, grievance mechanisms and the regulation of wages as well as monitoring of working hours.
Various occupational health and safety measures such as safety in the workplace and the safety of buildings and production plants are also evaluated as part of the certification process. The STeP facilities are located in 56 countries, including Bangladesh, India and Turkey.
More resources:
Learn about STeP certified facilities in our blogpost
Watch the video and visit a STeP certified facility in Portugal
The textile and leather industry cannot exist without chemicals. OEKO-TEX® was founded in 1992 with the aim of using laboratory tests to ensure textile products are harmless to human health.
All our limit values for harmful substances are reviewed at least once a year and comply with the latest science, international requirements and regulations. Our certifications focus on different areas of chemicals use:
chemicals in products affecting customer health,
chemicals as products with environmental impact
and Chemicals in production affecting workers health & environment.
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Learn about our product classes
Learn how chemicals affect skin and health in our blogpost
We are committed to rigorous chemical testing and responsible production standards. By promoting greener chemistry and, with our standards, supporting the continuous improvement of production processes, we help brands and manufacturers minimise their environmental impact.
Our ECO PASSPORT certification ensures that the chemicals, dyes and auxiliaries used in production meet strict environmental criteria.
Our STeP certification for production facilities covers chemical management, resource efficiency, waste reduction and emissions control.
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Discover our STeP certification
To us, quality means rigorous testing and standardised certification processes. Quality is a fundamental investment. OEKO-TEX® standards protect natural resources, workers and consumers. Around 1/3 of our annual budget go towards this crucial aspect.
To make sure that the samples tested during certification accurately represent the final product and comply with applicable standards, we do control testing. About 25% of STANDARD 100 and LEATHER STANDARD certificates and MADE IN GREEN labels, about 15% of ECO PASSPORT and 10 % of ORGANIC COTTON certificates are tested again - pulled from retail shelves, audits or downstream certifications.
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Our quality assurance system
Audits, also called On-Site-Visits – are an important measure for reviewing processes and ways of working.On a triennial basis, each of our testing institutes undergoes an audit conducted by OEKO-TEX®.
Our STeP certified facilities receive a certification valid for 3 years. Depending on the facility certification level, audits are performed multiple times within the certification period. Also, each STeP facility needs to submit to a Compliance Audit 1,5 years after the certification has been issued.
The On-Site-Visits for companies having STANDARD 100 or LEATHER STANDARD certified articles are performed at least once every three years. The On-Site-Visits for companies having ORGANIC COTTON certified articles are performed every year.
The optional ECO PASSPORT On-Site-Visits are performed once every three years for all chemicals producers.
More resources:
OEKO-TEX® Annual Report 2023/2024
