Interview with Georg Dieners

The vision of the OEKO-TEX Association, which was founded in March 1992 through a partnership between the Hohenstein Research Institute and the Austrian Textile Research Institute (OETI), is still reflected today in the organisation’s core values: trust, safety, and sustainability. For three decades, OEKO-TEX has pursued the goal of building trust for companies and consumers and enabling them to make responsible decisions to protect people and the planet. The services provided by OEKO-TEX bring transparency to the international textile and leather industry supply chains. They enable all stakeholders to make mindful decisions that help preserve our planet for future generations.

In 1992, 20 years before the United Nations announced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), OEKO-TEX launched OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100, one of the best-known labels for product safety today, to address increasing public interest in textile ecology and health. The limit values and test methods on which STANDARD 100 is based on were internationally standardised and are adapted to the latest scientific findings and legislation at least once a year – a principle that is applied to all OEKO-TEX standards. From the very beginning, OEKO-TEX has considered the needs of all players in the textile and leather value chain and continues to create solutions for the current and future market requirements. Today, at least seven SDGs are firmly integrated into the OEKO-TEX product portfolio. For example, Good Health & Well-Being (SDG 3) and Clean Water & Sanitation (SDG 6) are reflected in the OEKO-TEX STeP (Sustainable Textile & Leather Production) factory certification, and Responsible Consumption & Production (SDG 12) and Climate Action (SDG 13) are implemented through the comprehensive OEKO-TEX MADE IN GREEN product label.

Enabling consumers and companies to make responsible decisions for themselves which also protect our planet for the future generations has always been our mission. Therefore OEKO-TEX offers a variety of textile and leather standards. These are developed as a modular system to cover the entire textile and leather value chain in terms of input, process, and output control as well as supply chain management. OEKO-TEX ECO PASSPORT is an independent certification system for chemicals, dyes and auxiliary materials used in the textile and leather industry. As part of a multi-stage process, we analyse whether every single ingredient in the chemical products meets the legal requirements and if it is not harmful to human health. Like the OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 which is a certification for textiles tested for harmful substances, the OEKO-TEX LEATHER STANDARD is also one of the product certifications. It refers to leather articles of all production stages including the accessory materials used. The OEKO-TEX MADE IN GREEN product label includes the product certification mentioned above and ensures that the textile or leather product has been manufactured using environmentally responsible processes under social working conditions. This is done through certification according to OEKO-TEX STeP, our production facility certification. As supply chain due diligence requirements in the textile and leather industry increased, we launched OEKO-TEX RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS. The management certification supports companies in preventing and mitigating existing and potential negative impacts of business operations within their own activities, their supply chains and in their wider business relationships. Starting April 2023, the new OEKO-TEX ORGANIC COTTON certification will focus on reliable labelling of organic cotton textiles.

The international association consists of 17 independent research and testing institutes focused on textile and leather, with contact offices in over 70 countries. They are responsible for the joint development of the test methods and limit values in the OEKO-TEX standards and carry out laboratory tests and audits according to globally uniform specifications. These comprehensive product and process audits ensure appropriate risk management, consumer and environmental protection, and legal compliance. With their wide-ranging research and development, the accredited OEKO-TEX testing institutes provide important insight for innovations within the textile and leather industry. They work in close cooperation with manufacturers and make a significant contribution to the development of high-quality textile and leather products at all stages of the value chain.

Promoting transparency in the textile and leather industry has been one of our main drivers since day one and we are convinced transparency is the key to sustainability. All our products and services pay into this idea, and we constantly engage to push the industry forward. During the last years, OEKO-TEX recognised the need for a life cycle assessment tool. So, we developed the OEKO-TEX Impact Calculator which is now integrated into the STeP certification. It enables individual facilities to identify the largest carbon and water impacts by materials used or produced, as well as by production processes to improve operations and meet reduction targets. They can also share their carbon and water footprint data with customers, investors, business partners and other stakeholders. The STeP certification is a pre-requisite for earning the OEKO-TEX MADE IN GREEN label. Other measures to support the industry towards greater sustainability and safety is the above mentioned OEKO-TEX RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS certification to support companies in fulfilling due diligence obligations within their own operations and their global supply chains. Starting April 2023, OEKO-TEX STeP customers are able to utilise the BHive app, developed by GoBlu, a comprehensive chemical database to reduce labour, time and costs. The comprehensive chemical database enables manufacturers to collect information on all chemical products used on site, via smartphone, and determine which products meet the sustainability requirements of different brands and retailers.