ZURICH, Switzerland — The OEKO-TEX® Association has expanded its product portfolio for the leather sector with the Leather Standard criteria catalog, the Association reports.
“The Association inspectes and certifies leather products, such as all types of clothing, leather shoes, upholstery materials, as well as products that are a mixture of textiles and leather, in addition to textile products,” it notes.
The requirements of the criteria catalogue, it indicates, are almost similarly stringent as those in its Standard 100 catalogue. Thus, key statutory regulations as well as numerous chemicals that are harmful to health are covered, even if they have not yet been legally regulated.
Moreover, the Association points out, the leather catalog corresponds to the requirements from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) regarding lead.
During its certification, leather products are tested with regard to formaldehyde, heavy metals such as chromium(VI), chromium, arsenic, lead and cadmium, pesticides, chlorinated phenols, phthalates, processing agents and preservatives, PFOS, PFOA, as well as banned Azo colorants and other colorants, among other things.
Product features, it relates, for example color fastness, are also tested, and an olfactory test is performed. The main component of products that are made from both leather and textiles determines the certification that applies to the product, either the Leather Standard or the Standard 100.
These tests by the Association, however, cover the complete product, including all textile and leather components, yarns, zip fasteners and buttons, it states.
“As with the Standard 100, the following also applies to the Leather Standard: the more intensive the skin contact, the stricter the limit values that need to be fulfilled,” it says.
Since 1992, the aim of the OEKO-TEX® Association has been to ensure independent verification, thereby generating credibility along the supply chain for the consumer, it writes.
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