Green product certifications
At DuLany Design we believe a beautifully designed, healthy home is the foundation for life’s best moments. To design a healthier home, we source sustainable, lower-tox furnishings and finishes. Fabrics, furniture and flooring are often treated with harmful chemicals, but you can reduce the toxic load in your home by incorporating materials with green product certifications. Read on to learn more about green product certifications.
GOTS certification
GOTS certification ensures the organic status of textiles from raw materials and manufacturing through the finished product. To earn the GOTS “made with organic materials” label, a textile must contain at least 70% certified organic fibers. To earn the GOTS “organic” label grade, a textile must contain at least 95% certified organic fibers. GOTS is the gold standard when it comes to green product certifications for textiles. If fabrics and textiles like upholstery, window treatments, or rugs meet GOTS standards, they are certifiably the cleanest and least-toxic textile products available for your home.
OEKO-TEX®
The OEKO-TEX® standards screen both textiles and leather for harmful chemicals. OEKO-TEX offers six different standards, but the ones most relevant for green interior design are the OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100, OEKO-TEX® LEATHER STANDARD, and the OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON certifications. Both the STANDARD 100 and LEATHER STANDARD allow a threshold for the chemicals it screens for as long as they don’t reach levels deemed harmful. Unlike GOTS, OEKO-TEX® only ensures the absence of harmful chemicals from the final product. It doesn’t monitor the whole textile process, and raw materials and processing methods don’t have to be organic. For example, a petroleum-based textile like polyester can be OEKO-TEX® certified, as long as it meets the chemical threshold criteria.
Similarly to GOTS, The OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON standard ensures the organic status of textiles from raw materials through manufacturing. It tests for pesticides and to carry the label, products must contain less than 10% GMO cotton. The difference is that GOTS has additional requirements and restrictions on other fibers that are allowed to be blended. The OEKO-TEX® standard is often used to certify bedding, towels, and leather upholstery.
GREENGUARD certification
GREENGUARD certification was created to reduce indoor air pollution caused by volatile organic compounds (VOCs) commonly found in furniture and building materials. VOCs may cause headaches, irritation of the eyes, nose, or throat, chronic disease, and cancer. There are two tiers of this certification, the UL GREENGUARD Mark and the UL GREENGUARD GOLD Mark. The UL GREENGUARD GOLD Mark limits emissions even further for products used in schools and healthcare.
GREENGUARD certification screens for VOCs in the finished product, but does not monitor the manufacturing or supply chain process. GREENGUARD certification ensures lower VOCs and better indoor air quality for paints, wall finishes, fabrics, wallpaper, furniture, and flooring. You can search for GREENGUARD certified products here.
FSC certification
The FSC sets standards to ensure the forests used to source wood and lumber products are responsibly managed. FSC 100% means all the materials used in a product have been sourced from certified forests. Certification covers wood sourced from all over the world and is the most used standard by manufacturers of wood products like furniture, home building, and paper products like wallpaper.
Our commitment to wellness interior design
DuLany Design proudly incorporates green products in our interior design projects that meet verified standards for both sustainability and wellness. Contact us today to create a natural, functional space that supports wellness and restores peace.
