Leather Standard :: Oeko-Tex, a developer of standardised solutions that optimise customers’ manufacturing processes to deliver high quality and sustainable products, has announced that its Leather Standard product label has completed one successful year. Products with the label are tested against an extensive catalogue of harmful substances via independent laboratory tests.
The tests also comply with the strict Oeko-Tex criteria. At the same time, the Leather Standard offers manufacturers and suppliers of leather articles a practical system for supplementing their company quality assurance from human-ecological perspectives. Furthermore, the Leather Standard label is valued by companies as a transparent tool that they can use to communicate their product responsibility in leather goods retailers and online shops in a clear and credible way.
Since the introduction of the Leather Standard in January 2017, almost 40 certificates have been issued around the world for a wide range of products – from goatskin rugs as an attractive lifestyle accessory for the bedroom to leather clothing to leather handbags from the elegant Italian brand, Zanellato.
Like the world-leading STANDARD 100 by Oeko-Tex for textiles tested for harmful substances, the Leather Standard now also contributes to effective consumer protection in the broad market segment of leather goods.
The test criteria and limit values are updated each year and are binding around the world. A Leather Standard certificate is only issued if all components of a sales product meet the valid requirements, including the leather as well as the accessory parts such as metal buttons and zips.
Speaking on the main advantages of the label, Gongcheng Zhai, sales director at Henan Prosper Skins & Leather Enterprise, largest tannery specialising in unshaven lambskins and sheepskins said, “Independent certification according to the Leather Standard helps us to get more orders from our customers.”
Leroy Parker, technical director of the Australian Auskin Group, one of the world’s leading suppliers of sheepskins said, “The Leather Standard reassures our customers that our products have had extensive testing that is directly relevant to our product sector. Secondly, as a producer we know that our products are being measured to meet the highest industry standards. This fits well with our own in-house and independent QA and QC testing to give us the assurance that we need to sell our products into a wide range of countries around the world.”
The articles from the Auskin Group, from Henan Prosper Skins & Leather, and from PT Adi Satria Abadi that have been certified in accordance with the Leather Standard include sheepskins and goatskins in different qualities and colours as well as those for the most diverse of applications such as babycare, rugs for living rooms and bedrooms, and for cushions and beanbags. Sheepskins for babies and small children under 36 months of age meet the most stringent harmful substance requirements of Oeko-Tex product class I.
