What is OEKO-TEX Certified Linen?
All Foxtrot Home French Linen products are OEKO-TEX® certified — but what exactly does that mean?
In a nutshell, OEKO-TEX is a global textile manufacturing safeguard that ensures your bedding or material-based product is free from banned and legal substances that are known to be harmful to the health of you, your family, or the environment.
Textile Certification
Chemicals like pesticides, heavy metals, and undesirable surfactants were first introduced to bedding and linen during the industrial rise of fabric production — a time when synthetic dyes offered colourful new opportunities, but attitudes to safety and the environment were carefree at best. And while textile chemical testing has existed for some time, it never really moved beyond identifying ‘a safe enough level’ of nasties.
By the 1990s, however, ‘safe enough’ was not enough. Many buyers (and producers) were not satisfied with minimum standards, they wanted 100% pure bedding and apparel, free of harmful chemicals — and rightly so. In response independent certifications began to emerge, setting a much higher bar and helping discerning buyers such as yourselves shop for only the safest materials.
Today OEKO-TEX is known to have some of the most stringent textile certifications available to manufacturers and consumers. Textile tests (including regular control tests) are conducted by globally recognised third-party laboratories, with producers required to update and renew their certification every year.
Organic bedding, free from harmful substances
Foxtrot Home’s OEKO-TEX Standard certification gives assurance that our Pure French Flax Linen has been rigorously tested for — and is free from — over 100 chemical substances found in the textile industry. This includes azo dyes, carcinogenic and allergy-inducing colourants, pesticides for textiles made of natural fibres, phthalates (softeners), and surfactant wetting agent residues (APEOs) — as well as a number of harmful substances that are not regulated yet.
Why is this important to us? Personal and environmental wellbeing
At Foxtrot Home we view the bedroom as a place of both rest and sanctuary. We rest easy knowing that this place, where a third or more of your life is spent, is furnished with only the highest and safest, quality linen. In this fast-paced world of ours, true relaxation and healthy sleep can be hard to come by! We trust that you will achieve both a little easier in the knowledge that the linen hugging your skin is Pure French Flax linen. We certainly do!
Not all linen on the market is created equal and we are proud to offer you a beautiful product that is better for you and your loved ones :-)
Kate & Prue xx