OEKO-TEX® Certification: What It Guarantees and How to Verify It

You can see the OEKO-TEX® label today on bedding, clothing, and children's items. But what exactly does it mean, who issues it, and how can you be sure it's not just a pretty sticker? Here's what the certificate guarantees, what you shouldn't expect from it, and how to verify it's genuine in two minutes. And at the end, you'll find the certificate numbers for the fabrics we use to sew our bedding, so you can check them yourself.

What Is OEKO-TEX® and Why the Standard Is Trusted Worldwide

OEKO-TEX® is an international association of independent textile institutes. It was founded in March 1992 by the Austrian Textile Research Institute (now OETI) and Germany's Hohenstein Institute. Its headquarters are in Zurich.

The association's best-known creation is STANDARD 100, a certification system that tests textiles for harmful substances. The scale is impressive: according to the association, more than 35,000 certified companies work with it, and in the 2022/23 fiscal year alone, more than 43,000 certificates and labels were issued.

The main thing that sets the standard apart is independence. The fabric isn't tested by the manufacturer, but by an accredited laboratory that's part of the OEKO-TEX® network. That's why the label carries weight: it can't simply be printed on a tag, because a real test report stands behind it.

What STANDARD 100 Tests: Harmful Substances and Product Classes

Under STANDARD 100, textiles are tested for more than 1,000 harmful substances. These include chemicals that are banned or regulated by law, substances that are harmful to health but not yet regulated, and parameters important for skin, such as pH level and colorfastness.

One important detail: it's not just the main fabric that's tested. As the association notes, every thread, button, and piece of hardware is tested. A finished product can only receive the label if all of its components meet every requirement without exception.

The requirements depend on how closely an item is in contact with the body. For this there are four product classes:

Adult bedding falls into Class II, so its fabric is tested against strict criteria. And that makes sense: we spend about a third of our lives in bed.

What the OEKO-TEX® Certificate Doesn't Guarantee: An Honest Look at Its Limits

To understand the label correctly, it's important to know its limits. STANDARD 100 confirms that a textile contains no harmful substances above permitted limits. But it doesn't assess:

• fabric density, softness, or durability;
• quality of construction: seam straightness, hardware strength, sizing accuracy;
• how environmentally friendly the production itself was; OEKO-TEX® has separate standards for that.

In other words, the certificate is a guarantee of safety, not of quality in the broad sense. Good bedding combines both: a safe fabric and careful sewing. You can read about how we take responsibility for the second on the Quality Guarantee page.

Another nuance is the validity period. A STANDARD 100 certificate is issued for 12 months, after which the manufacturer has to be re-tested. So if a number is listed on the label, it's worth making sure the certificate is still valid.

How to Check an OEKO-TEX® Certificate on the Official Website: Step by Step

Anyone can verify a certificate, and no registration is required. A genuine STANDARD 100 label always includes a test number and the name of the institute that carried out the testing. If there's no number, the label has no force.

Here's how to check:

1. Find the certificate number on the label or the product page.
2. Open the Label Check service on the official OEKO-TEX® website.
3. Enter the number in the "Certificate / label number" field exactly as written; the system is case-sensitive.
4. Click "check" and review the result: whether the certificate is valid and which company it was issued to.

If the search finds nothing, the number may be made up or the certificate may have been withdrawn. The association publishes a separate list of withdrawn certificates and advises contacting it directly in that case.

Supreme Rest Fabric Certificates: Numbers You Can Check Yourself

We sew our bedding only from fabrics certified under OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100. So that this isn't just words, we're publishing the certificate numbers for our fabrics. You can verify them in the Label Check service:

All three are OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 certificates for the linen and cotton fabrics we use to sew our bedding. The EUROPEAN FLAX® mark on the first certificate applies to the fabric for our linen bedding and confirms that the flax was grown in Europe. The OEKO-TEX® certificate covers the fabric, while our workshop is responsible for the quality of the sewing: every set is sewn by hand and checked before shipping. Learn more about the properties of each fabric on the About Our Fabrics page.

Safe Bedding Means Facts Anyone Can Check

The OEKO-TEX® label is one of the few marks that anyone can verify on their own. It doesn't replace quality sewing, but it gives you the most important thing: confidence that the fabric you touch every night doesn't contain harmful substances. When choosing bedding, look not just at the label but at the number next to it, and don't hesitate to check.