ZURICH — The OEKO-TEX® Association announces the launch of its new Eco Passport certification for sustainable textile chemicals.
Eco Passport-certified chemicals protect consumers, textile industry workers, and the environment from the potential dangers of harmful substances, OEKO-TEX says.
A two-step verification procedure allows manufacturers of textile processing chemicals and chemical compounds to confirm that their products meet the criteria for environmentally responsible textile production.
Eco Passport offers textile chemical manufacturers a confidential and independent method to reassure their customers that chemicals, colorants and auxiliaries are in line with the industry’s sustainability requirements and initiatives.
In the initial analysis, chemical compounds are checked against a comprehensive Manufacturing Restricted Substance List (MRSL) that incorporates the OEKO-TEX Standard 100 RSL and the STeP by OEKO-TEX MRSL, both of which are compliant with REACH and ZDHC guidelines.
Next, the textile chemicals, colorants, and auxiliaries are analyzed within a well-reasoned laboratory testing framework to ensure that they do not contain any unsafe contaminants, according to OEKO-TEX.
Compounds that pass these two phases are granted the Eco Passport certification, which indicates that the certified textile chemical is safe to use in OEKO-TEX Standard 100-certified textile products and in STeP by OEKO-TEX-certified manufacturing facilities.
Based on customer and market feedback during the six-month pilot test phase, OEKO-TEX modified the original Eco Passport concept to improve functionality.
The workflow between applicants, testing institutes, and the OEKO-TEX Secretariat was refined and the certification and lab testing procedures were optimized.
The International OEKO-TEX® Association, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, was founded in 1992 by the Austrian Textile Research Institute OETI and the German Hohenstein Research Institute. Currently, its membership includes 16 independent textile research and testing institutes with their representative offices in 60 countries worldwide.
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