Factsheet

OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON
Organic by nature: certified by the experts
Choose OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON for a caring approach to our environment and your health.
Our ORGANIC COTTON certification offers verification from farm to product. Products bearing this label havebeen manufactured without the use of GMOs and tested for pesticides and other harmful substances.

Product description
OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON is a certification intended for any textile article made of at least 70% organic
cotton. However, mixtures of conventional and organic cotton are forbidden in this certification.
As with the OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100, articles can be OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON certified following
4 different product classes:•••• roduct class I:
P
Product class II:
Product class III:
Product class IV:

Babies and small children up to 3 years
Material with skin contact
Material without skin contact
Home textiles

A product class is the grouping of different articles according to their purpose. The various product classes differ
significantly in terms of the product-specific requirements that are applied, which include possibly different limitvalues.
Articles can further be certified according to two Annexes:• Annex 4•

Annex 6Annex 4 includes the basis requirements with the goal to protect consumer health. Annex 6 adds to this with chemicals
used in production, that may not have a direct effect on health, but a possible harmful effect to the environment.
The strict tests for harmful substances and the criteria catalogue of OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON includes:

••
•••
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GMO test for the articles
Full coverage of the chain of custody by tracking the flow of goods with transaction certificatesImportant legal regulations such as banned azo colorants, pentachlorophenol, per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances (PFAS), cadmium, lead, etc.
Numerous harmful chemicals, even if they are not yet regulated legally
Numerous substance classes that are relevant to the environment
Compliance with several regulations worldwide including EU REACH Annex XIV and XVII, US CPSIA (lead),
EU POP regulation
All textile relevant substances of the ECHA’s SVHC candidate list are covered

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OEKO-TEX® entry in thesupply chain
Transaction
certificates

Cotton farm

Ginning

Certificate from the IFOAM
Family of Standards

Spinning

Knitting & Weaving

DyeingConfection

ORGANIC COTTON certificates

Prerequisites for issuing the certificate and the OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON label are:•••All components of the article to be certified must comply with the conditions, test criteria and limit values of the standard
The full chain of custody must be traceable with OEKO-TEX® transaction certificates
Operational quality assurance•Successful quality audit in your company by an OEKO-TEX® institute every year

The compelling benefits• ou get to label your products with one of the world’s most recognized and widely used labels for textiles thatYhave been tested for harmful substances and document your product stewardship to protect your consumer.

• he independent evaluation by OEKO-TEX® institutes represents a confidence-building measure for yourTmaterials and products.

•

 he OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON certificate is the key to new business partnerships since its the criteria areToften the basis of Restricted Substances Lists (RSLs) of retail chains, discounters, producers, etc.

•

You receive practical assistance for your operational quality assurance without having to allocate resources yourself.

• network of companies around the world make it easier for you to select raw materials and business partners
Aalong the textile chain.

Your path to OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON
1. R
 egister for OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON at www.oeko-tex.com to receive access to the myOEKO-TEX®
platform.
2. Send a representative sample of the material and all required documents to your OEKO-TEX® institute.
3. The institute will examine your products and review all documents.
4. After successful laboratory tests and provision of all necessary documents, you will receive the certificate anda detailed test report.

Validity
The ORGANIC COTTON certificate is valid for 1 year.

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