Frankfurt a. M. (hm) From 11 to 13 June 2013 OEKO-TEX will have their own trade fair stand at the Texprocess in Frankfurt a.M. for the first time. On the occasion of the market introduction of the STeP certification system for sustainable textile production, the experts from several OEKO-TEX facilities will be available to interested trade visitors in hall 4.0 F28, primarily to provide detailed explanations of the requirements and the process for the new OEKO-TEX certification. The official start for the certification will be on 12 June during an evening event for the presentation of the OEKO-TEX Sustainability Award.
The Sustainability Award was created in 2012 to mark the occasion of the 20th anniversary of OEKO-TEX, with the aim of honouring companies working with OEKO-TEX who have shown special commitment through sustainable management. The award, which is not endowed with any prize money, is presented in the five categories environmental management, quality management, social responsibility, safety management and product innovation.
A jury with seven representatives of the OEKO-TEX Association, NGOs, industry and research as well as associations and the trade press will select the winners of the award in the individual categories. Three companies are nominated for each category out of all companies who were already pre-selected as ‘OEKO-TEX Companies of the Month’ from all entries received during the past year.
In addition to the personal handing over of the awards to the five winners, the evening event in Frankfurt will provide the festive setting for the official launch of the new OEKO-TEX certification for environmentally friendly and socially responsible companies from the textile value chain.
As a modern further development of the previous OEKO-TEX Standard 1000, the new certification tool with the name ‘Sustainable Textile Production (STeP)’ provides brands, retail companies and manufacturers worldwide with an option for modular analysis of all relevant company areas such as quality management, use of chemicals, environmental protection, environmental management, social responsibility and occupational health and safety.
The aim of the STeP certification is to provide production facilities with targeted support for the continuing optimisation of their manufacturing technologies and working conditions in the sense of more environmental protection, workplace safety and social responsibility. The assessment to what extent STeP certified companies are showing sustainable management is made after the application, the assessment carried out online and the final company audit in the form of a transparent three-stage scoring system.
The STeP certificate issued shows the total score achieved as well as the individual values for each company area as a percentage. The precondition for the STeP certification is the compliance with certain minimum requirements which will be verified during the auditing of the production facilities by one of the OEKO-TEX institutes. Already existing certifications such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, SA 8000 or OHSAS 18001 can be integrated into the STeP certification without any problems so that the companies do not have to provide evidence twice.
