A STEP CLOSER
STeP BY STeP WITH OEKO-TEX®
In 2019, one of our sewing factories in Sri Lanka became the first business in the country to be certified according to STeP by OEKO-TEX® – Sustainable Textile & Leather Production. Since then, all of our production units in Sri Lanka and Myanmar have followed and received the certification.
At Blåkläder, this is a major milestone in the strive to achieve a sustainable textile value chain. The sewing production is not only the final step in the “cradle to gate” cycle, but also where all components come together in a both energy and personnel intensive process. Maintaining high standards for health and safety as well as minimizing the use of energy and choosing power supply from renewable sources for the sewing production is crucial to enable a sustainable supply chain.
The STeP by OEKO-TEX® program takes all of these aspects into consideration, and is therefore a truly sustainable certification concept.
Now our shoe factory and all six sewing factories in Sri Lanka and Myanmar are STeP by OEKO-TEX® certified a validation that the business is run with a high level of Environmental performance, Social compliance and Governance management (ESG). Furthermore our most significant textile suppliers are also certified in accordance with the STeP program. Altogether, this means that a substantial part of our Supply Chain is already covered by STeP by OEKO-TEX® compliance; securing an environmentally and socially controlled manufacturing process with a high level of quality management.
STeP by OEKO-TEX® – Sustainable Textile & Leather Production – is an international certification system that sets the prerequisites for environmentally sustainable production processes, quality control, improved health and safety as well as socially responsible working conditions in the textile and leather industry. The main objective is on environmental aspects, but STeP differs from other certification systems since evaluation and review also include social and quality parameters throughout the production chain. A management certification covering the whole ESG area.