Throughout Europe, testing for harmful substances plays a significant role in the considerations made when buying textiles. This is demonstrated by the results of a trend analysis survey commissioned by the German Oeko-Tex® Certification Centre and carried out by the consulting firm BBE Retail Experts in the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Italy, France and Spain. In each country, between 400 and 500 consumers and 200 specialist retailers were asked, among other things, about the interest in textiles tested for harmful substances and awareness of the Oeko-Tex® Standard 100.
The data gathered in connection with the GfK (Society for Consumer Research) consumer study done in 2006 and a survey of specialist retailers carried out by the consulting firm BBE Retail Experts in 2008 (both in Germany) provides interesting insights into shared and in some cases drastically divergent conditions on the individual markets.
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