Bamboo - I have seen other company’s talk about various certifications, what exactly do they mean?

We can tell you this: Most of the claims that are made by many sites, are very misleading. To generalize, they are providing you with some textile certification that, unless you are in the business or do some research on it, the manner in which it is referenced and what is implied is quite simply misleading. That being said, we want to point out that this practice is certainly not endorsed by all sites. But it is very prevalent.

Here we will set the record straight and give you the facts.

Let’s start with the Oeko Tex 100. 1^st of all, the bamboo fiber used in our bamboo baby products, bamboo clothing, or bamboo bedding, for example, is Oeko Tex 100 certified. Now, what does this mean?

The Oeko Tex 100 standard was created back in 1992. It is an International standard that restricts the use of harmful chemicals, pesticides etc. Below is a list of the parameters used for the performance criteria:

• Prohibited azo dyestuffs
• Carcinogenic and allergy inducing dyestuffs
• Pesticides
• Formaldehyde
• Chloro organic carriers
• Chlorinated phenols
• Extractable heavy metals
• Nickel
• Color fastness
• pH value
• Phtalates in baby articles
• Butyl tin compounds (TBT and DBT)
• Emission of volatile components
• Odors

It is important to note that the Oeko Tex 100 is definitely a positive certification to have. The Oeko Tex 100 standard certifies that a textile product, at a particular point in the manufacturing process, has been certified to be either free of or has acceptable levels of the parameters referenced above. However, it does not govern or certify any part of the processing of that particular product. It also has nothing to do with whether or not a product is deemed organic or not. So in essence, the fiber or yarn has met with some pretty stringent criteria regarding any traces of chemicals, pesticides, etc., but it tells you nothing about the crops, and or any chemicals or methods used in the processing of that particular product.

We would like to note that the bamboo crops, used in the procurement of the bamboo fibers in our products, are certified “organic” by the USDA.

There are other Oeko Tex certifications, such as the Oeko Tex 1000.

The Oeko Tex 1000 standard is associated more with the environmental practices of the facility itself. As with Oeko Tex 100, the Oeko Tex 1000 certification is an International standards system.

The Oeko-Tex Standard 1000 requires that companies:

• Comply with specified criteria to avoid or limit the use of harmful substances in production
• Observe stringent limit values relating to waste water and exhaust air
• Optimize their energy consumption
• Ensure low noise and dust pollution
• Introduce measures to ensure safety at work
• Statutory requirements and regulations must be complied with as minimum requirements. The use of child labor is prohibited.

You will note that they require the company to submit a declaration of commitment stating that they comply with all the criteria required by the Oeko Tex standard 1000.

Does this imply that said facility does not actually undergo an inspection confirming their compliance? At the time of this writing, I am not sure what the criteria for compliance by the governing body is. That said, we will continue our research and continue to update our bamboo information section. As always, if you - our visitor, have a credible resource link, we are always happy to hear from you.

Next we have the Oeko Tex 100+. This certification recognizes that a company has achieved the aforementioned certifications, the Oeko Tex 100 and the Oeko Tex 1000.

Next up, we have the ISO (International Organization for Standardization):

You may run into some company’s that tout, “ISO 9000” certified or “ISO 14000” certified. Let’s start with the ISO 9000. This is not a certification that has anything to do with the actual product being organic or free of chemicals, etc. Rather, it is merely a set of tools and or standards that a company can adopt in order to improve qualities and efficiencies in their management structure. Furthermore, it does not certify any commitment to environmentally friendly practices on the part of the manufacturer.

And finally we have the ISO 14000 family of standards:

The ISO (International Organization Standardization) actually has over 16,000 different standards. They are implemented in over 140 countries worldwide and bring together the expertise of over 40 international organizations. The 14001 for example, does deal with environmental issues. One of their objectives is to mitigate climate change. It is a toolbox of standards that a business (not just a textile manufacturer) can utilize to set environmental objectives. They would begin by identifying the environmental impact of their activities. The company is then supposed to achieve their goals, and lastly, demonstrate that they have met those goals. The thing is, different countries have different attitudes and regulations when it comes to environmental issues. It would be a difficult task to really know for sure the details of a business in a foreign country with regard to their environmental and sustainability practices.

There are certainly more “certifications” out there…but we wanted to provide you with some background on the ones that we have run across when looking at other company’s on the internet that sell textile products.

Important Facts About Our Suppliers:

• The bamboo is USDA certified organic
• The bamboo farms are OCIA certified organic
• The fiber is FSC chain of custody certification: FSC chain of custody (CoC) tracks FSC certified material through the production process - from the forest to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution. Only FSC CoC certified operations are allowed to label products with the FSC trademarks. The FSC label thus provides the link between responsible production and consumption and thereby enables the consumer to make socially and environmentally responsible purchasing decisions.
• The fiber has Oeko Tex 100 Class A certification
• Our suppliers are members of and approved by Green America
• The bamboo fiber is processed in a closed loop system where 98% of the sodium hydroxide and 74% of the carbon disulphide are recovered and recycled.
• No chemicals are applied to the fabrics unless they either meet the GOTS standards or are Oeko Tex certified. There are no residual chemicals in the fiber.
• All dyes are low impact Azo-free dyes.

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