Oeko-Tex Standard 100

In our last couple of posts, we wrote about Austria’s Lenzing Group and its amazing product, Tencel. If you will recall, Lenzing is the winner of multiple prestigious environmental awards in Europe. Besides that, the Group has something called Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certification. Many consumers in this part of the world aren’t familiar with Oeko-Tex. This is unfortunate because it’s an important standard. In this post, we explain what it's about.

What is Oeko-Tex Standard 100? Firstly, it’s a standard and not an award. When we complain in our everyday language that something is not up to “standard,” it means that that thing has not met the “required or agreed level of quality or attainment” (as defined by my trusty old dictionary).

There are many standards today, some local, some international. Some of us have heard of ISO 9000. It’s an international standard for quality management, and it’s developed and published by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization. Another international standard that is increasingly popular is the ISO 14000 for environmental management.

Like the ISO 9000, the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 is a type of standard. But unlike the ISO 9000, it’s an international standard for human ecological safety, and it’s developed and published by the International Oeko-Tex Association in Switzerland.

What does human ecological safety mean? In the context of this post, it simply means clothing safety. That is, if a piece of clothing has been certified Oeko-Tex Standard 100, it's safe to wear. Furthermore, Oeko-Tex is by most accounts the world’s highest standard for human ecological safety. Which means that Oeko-Tex-certified clothing is one of the safest—if not the safest—in the world. 

Why is safety so important to consumers? This is the big question, and we’ll answer it in our next post.