Kortlægning af kemiske stoffer i tekstiler - Miljøstyrelsen

On the Danish market, it is possible to find the following eco-labels
and health-labels: the EU Flower, the Nordic Swan, the Swedish Bra
Miljöval (Good Environmental Choice), Øko-Tex 1000 and Øko-Tex
100. Besides these, the following labels that stand for organic
production can be found on the Danish market: GOTS, IVN, KRAV,
DEMETER and Soil Association.
For the production of one cotton T-shirt (250 g) about 500 to 1040
grams of chemicals and about 37-225 liter of water is used (growing
of cotton is not included here). The use of water is not expected to be
lower for production of an eco-labelled T-shirt compared to a noneco-labelled
T-shirt. On the other hand, the use of chemicals to
produce an eco-labelled (organically grown) T-shirt will be lower
compared to the use of chemicals to produce a non-eco-labelled T-
shirt.
Project results
Production of textiles
Data received from Dansk Fashion & Textile shows that in 2009, 66 % of the
imported amount of clothes (stated as value in DKK) came from non-EU
countries.
The import from non-EU countries comes nearly exclusively from the East.
For the year 2009, only an approximate value of about 100 million DKK was
imported from other countries than the East. It is primarily from countries as
the US, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. I.e. from import of textile
outside the EU, import from the East forms approx. 99.3 %. SeeTable 0-1.
Table 0-1 The share of garments and accessories which are imported to Denmark.
Source: Statistics Denmark.
Value of import (1000 DKK)
Garments and accessories
Time 2007 2008 2009
Total import to Denmark 24,169,936 24,131,465 21,170,743
Import from EU countries 9,545,406 8,992,381 7,247,946
Import from countries outside the
EU 14,624,530 15,139,084 13,922,797
Import from countries outside the
EU which does not come from the
East*
approx.
100,000
% of clothing which does not
come from the EU 61 % 63 % 66 %
*) I.e. more than 99 % of the total import from non-EU countries comes from the East
Chemicals in clothes
A number of surveys/analyses of chemicals identified in clothes have been
examined during the project. The surveys show that there are a large number
of different chemicals – and also dangerous chemicals –in clothes. The
following groups of chemical substances are identified in clothes during the
latest years:
Antibacterial agents (Triclosan, nano-silver)
Anti-mould agents (DMF)
Dyes (azo dyes, other dyes, optical brighteners)
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