In recent years it has become more and more obvious that there is a large issue with how clothes are manufactured, as the process often involves the use of a lot of chemicals which are harmful to the environment and can be harmful to humans. In order to combat these issues, OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT has created a system which is designed to help companies deal with these issues by changing their process.

The issues with production process, centres around the use of chemically intensive processes, which include items such as apparel, footwear, textiles and leather. These products tend to be manufactured in a way that has a serious impact on the products safety, the environment, human health and circularity. It can be seen that progress to reduce this impact has already been made and there is still lots of progress currently occurring. This progress has been focused on controlling and dealing with threats posed to the environment in general such as by wide-spread industry practices. However, whilst progress is being made in these areas, dealing with responsibly navigating the next steps of this progress still remains a complex challenge.

This is where OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT comes in and focuses on helping factories and chemical suppliers. Instead of looking at the manufacturing process for the clothes, OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT looks at the chemical manufacturing process, with the aim to make the chemicals more suitable for the clothing. The company helps chemical manufacturers to make sure that their products meet safety, sustainability and regulatory requirements. So far, throughout the past seven years, OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT business portfolio has expanded to covering almost 27,000 chemical products, successfully helping the manufacturers redesign them so that they meet the regulations for ecologically responsible manufacturing. For many brands and factories, OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT has become a credible third-party chemical validation.

OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT began in 2016 and since then has helped suppliers choose better chemicals and has worked to prevent toxins and impurities going to factories. This process began once a study discovered that most of the chemicals which end up on clothes are not food grade quality, therefore can be dangerous to human health. Furthermore, this possess a threat to the environment, as the chemicals get released into the atmosphere and also prevent clothes entering the circularity system as they are unable to be recycled effectively. This is why OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT is trusted to perform the tasks they do, as their process for checking products and chemicals and ensuring that changes are carried out is incredibly strict. Their system operates on a test, verify, test again process, which involves an intense and rigorous system that ensures each chemical is safe for use on textiles and clothing. Dependant on how harmful each chemical is, higher risk ones go through the entire process, whereas lower risk ones only go through spot checks, unless they need to go through a longer process. This system has been proven to be effective through the company’s portfolio of 27,000 certified chemical products.

This solution to a very large issue helps the manufacturing process of chemicals, textiles and clothes at every stage of development, right down to making products more trustworthy to customers. This shows why companies such as OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT are incredibly necessary to production processes, especially when it comes to making items better for the environment, human health and a circular and greener economy.