#Sustainability

2023-09-14

Change in the OEKO-TEX® Management Board

OEKO-TEX® announces the departure of Georg Dieners. The Association’s Secretary General is leaving the organisation after 8 years in office. OEKO-TEX® expresses appreciation to Georg Dieners for his work and wishes him all the best for his future.

Until further notice, Hohenstein CEO Dr. Stefan Droste and TESTEX CEO Rainer Roten will co-manage the global provider of sustainability solutions for the textile and leather industry. The operations handled by the 17 OEKO-TEX® testing institutes are not affected by the change. OEKO-TEX® is working diligently to find a successor and will soon appoint a new Secretary General.

Because of their involvement in various OEKO-TEX® Association executive bodies, both interim Secretaries General are familiar with the issues and processes. As CEO of Hohenstein Textile Testing Institute, Stefan Droste has been entrusted with leadership since 2013. Rainer Roten has been the CEO, responsible for the entire TESTEX Group, since 2021, and has previously held management positions at several companies.

OEKO-TEX® chooses TextileGenesis to advance digital traceability for organic cotton

OEKO-TEX® today announced a full collaboration with TextileGenesis, a Lectra company, to digitally trace and authenticate organic cotton, strengthening fraud prevention across the supply chain. This announcement follows a successful pilot and brings together OEKO-TEX®’s certification expertise and closed testing system with TextileGenesis’ digital traceability platform to deliver a secure, end-to-end solution for managing certified organic cotton flows.

OEKO-TEX® - New regulations 2025

Fostering trust within the textile and leather industry remains the mission of OEKO-TEX®. Since trust relies on consistently high standards, the OEKO-TEX® Association has released the updated testing criteria, limit values and guidelines for its certifications, based on the latest scientific research and legal developments.

OEKO-TEX® Annual Report 2023/2024 mentions 50,000+ valid certifications

The international OEKO-TEX® association has continued to demonstrate positive business growth, highlighting the critical role of close collaboration and shared commitment in accelerating sustainable change. More than 35,000 textile and leather companies depend on the certificates and product labels issued by OEKO-TEX®’s independent testing institutes. OEKO-TEX® issued more than 50,000 certificates and labels between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024 – an increase of 22% over the previous financial year.

Jeanologia and BCome connect factory data with Life Cycle Assessment and Digital Product Passports

A new white paper by EIM by Jeanologia and BCome demonstrates how primary environmental data from denim finishing processes can be integrated into a garment's Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and prepared for use in a Digital Product Passport (DPP). A comparative case study highlights significant improvements at the production stage while also showing how these translate into the environmental performance of the finished garment.

Stäubli to introduce new S3292 dobby for high-speed weaving at ITME India 2026

Stäubli will introduce its new S3292 dobby at ITME India 2026, taking place from December 4 to 9 at the India Expo Centre & Mart in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Designed for high-speed air-jet weaving, the new machine will be among the highlights of the company's presentation, which also includes warp preparation systems, cam motions, Jacquard technologies and digital services.

DITF develops bio-based binding fibers for wood-fiber insulation materials

As part of the CelluWoodFlex project, the German Institutes of Textile- and Fiber-Research in Denkendorf (DITF) are developing bio-based cellulose ester fibers as alternative binding fibers for flexible wood fiber insulation materials. In addition to the spinning process and the production of suitable staple fibers, the institute is also investigating how wood and cellulose fibers can be separated and recycled at the end of their useful life.

Reju expands textile-to-textile recycling network with six international fabric manufacturers

Reju, a textile-to-textile regeneration company, is expanding its industrial network through collaborations with six fabric manufacturers in Europe and the Americas. The initiative aims to accelerate the integration of regenerated polyester into textile manufacturing and support the development of finished fabrics for commercial applications.

Magnera highlights HighPleat™ filtration media technology at FiltXPO 2026

At FiltXPO 2026, held on October 28–29 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Magnera highlighted advances in air filtration media architecture, with a particular focus on its HighPleat™ platform for MERV 8–10 applications. The technology combines a lofted fiber structure with optimized pore architecture to address the challenge of balancing filtration efficiency, airflow resistance and contaminant-holding capacity.