---
title: "Fabric Certificates and Test Reports You Can Check Yourself"
url: "https://cushionguide.com/certificates/"
section: "The Atelier"
author: "Nate Kowalski, The Pattern Engineer of Detroit"
author_url: "https://cushionguide.com/masters/nate/"
keywords: "fabric certificates, oeko-tex standard 100 certificate, oeko-tex label check, bs 5852 test report, martindale test report"
---

# Certificates and test reports for the fabrics we work with

*Five documents, each with a holder, a number, a date and a limit. If we could not check it, it is not on this page.*

> **The quick answer:** The fabrics we work with are backed by one OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certificate, number 03.T.3239, held by the fabric mill in product class I, and by four third-party lab reports on specific fabrics. None is issued to the atelier, and none covers a finished cushion. You can check the OEKO-TEX number yourself on Label Check at oeko-tex.com.

## Whose document is it?

Most certificate pages in this trade are a row of logos. A logo is a picture. A certificate is a document with a holder, a number, a scope and a date, and anyone can check it without taking a seller's word for it.

Buyers ask us exactly this. One wanted the certificate number and the standard behind it. Another asked whether it covered the exact fabric on the order or only the shop in general. Those are the right questions, partner.

So here is how this page works. The OEKO-TEX certificate belongs to the mill that weaves the fabric, not to the atelier and not to a finished cushion. Each test report describes one fabric sample, tested on stated dates by a third-party lab. Where a document has a limit, the limit sits right next to the result.

## OEKO-TEX Standard 100 · certificate 03.T.3239

|   |   |
|---|---|
| Document | Certificate |
| Holder | The fabric mill that weaves the upholstery and bed-textile fabrics we work with |
| Number | 03.T.3239 |
| Standard | OEKO-TEX Standard 100, Annex 6, the stricter of the two criteria catalogs |
| Product class | I, for items for babies and toddlers up to 36 months, the strictest of four classes |
| Scope | Woven and knitted fabrics for upholstery and bed textiles: cotton, viscose, polyester, polypropylene, linen and blends, and knitted velour |
| Validity | One year; an on-time renewal keeps the same number |
| Checked | Listed as valid on OEKO-TEX Label Check, September 2026 |
| What it means | The certified fabrics were tested against a list of more than 1,000 regulated and unregulated harmful substances, to the limits of class I. |
| What it does not mean | It is not a quality label. It says nothing about wear, cleaning or burning behavior, and it does not certify a finished cushion, its foam or its zipper. |
| Verify | [Enter 03.T.3239 on OEKO-TEX Label Check](https://www.oeko-tex.com/en/label-check) |

## Cigarette and match test · cream faux-leather panel fabric, untreated

|   |   |
|---|---|
| Document | Test report |
| Lab | An accredited textile lab (ISO/IEC 17025) |
| Report number | 24020722-ADD |
| Tested | August 16–28, 2024 |
| Sample | A cream faux-leather panel fabric for home textiles, tested as received, with no flame-retardant treatment |
| Standard | BS 5852 Part 1: smoldering cigarette (ignition source 0) and butane flame equal to a match (ignition source 1), over a standard non-flame-retardant test foam of 20–22 kg/m³ (1.25–1.37 lb/ft³) |
| Result | Passed both the cigarette and the match test. Abrasion: no wear at 100,000 Martindale cycles. |
| What it means | This cover fabric resisted a smoldering cigarette and a small flame without any added flame-retardant finish. |
| What it does not mean | The result belongs to the sample tested. It is not a fire rating for a finished cushion, and it says nothing about the foam inside one. |

## Cigarette and match test · PVC-rich cream fabric, soaked first

|   |   |
|---|---|
| Document | Test report |
| Lab | An accredited textile lab (ISO/IEC 17025) |
| Report number | 2400010711 |
| Tested | December 6–25, 2024; issued December 25, 2024 |
| Sample | A PVC-rich cream fabric with a flame-retardant finish, water-soaked under BS 5651 before testing, so a finish that washes out would show |
| Standard | BS 5852 Part 1 cigarette and match tests over the same kind of standard non-flame-retardant test foam |
| Result | Passed both tests after soaking. Abrasion: no wear at 300,000 Martindale cycles. Light fastness 6 on the 1–8 blue wool scale. |
| What it means | A treated cover fabric that kept its result after the water soak, and one of the toughest weaves in this register. |
| What it does not mean | One sample, one set of dates. A treated cover does not change the filling, and a buyer who wants no added finish should look at the untreated fabric above. |

## Abrasion and pilling test · heavy upholstery weave

|   |   |
|---|---|
| Document | Test report |
| Lab | An accredited textile lab (ISO/IEC 17025) |
| Report number | 2023-1662 |
| Tested | July 20, 2023 |
| Sample | A 590 g/m² (17.4 oz/yd²) upholstery weave: 91% polyester, 5% acrylic, 3% cotton, 1% linen |
| Result | Martindale abrasion averaging 99,000 cycles at 12 kPa, from runs of 97,000, 100,000 and 100,000. Pilling grade 5, meaning no pilling, from 125 to 7,000 cycles. |
| What it means | Heavy-duty abrasion for a daily bench or banquette, with no bobbles in the pilling test. |
| What it does not mean | A high rub count does not predict fading, claw damage or stains, and the result covers this weave only. |

## Snag test · beige upholstery weave

|   |   |
|---|---|
| Document | Test report |
| Lab | An international testing and inspection lab |
| Report number | TR2591549-RV1 |
| Tested | December 26–30, 2024; issued January 2, 2025 |
| Sample | A beige upholstery weave |
| Result | ASTM D3939 mace test, 600 revolutions: grade 4–5 in both directions. BS 8479, 2,000 revolutions: 5 out of 5, no visible defects. |
| What it means | Very few pulled loops after a spiked ball tumbled over the fabric, a fair stand-in for claws, buckles and jeans rivets. |
| What it does not mean | No official pet-friendly standard exists, the report set no pass mark, and no fabric stands up to every claw. |

## How to verify any certificate in two minutes

1. **Ask for the number, not the logo**: An OEKO-TEX Standard 100 number looks like 03.T.3239. A lab report carries a report number, a lab name and test dates. A badge with none of these is decoration.
2. **Use the issuer's own checker**: For OEKO-TEX, type the number exactly into [Label Check on oeko-tex.com](https://www.oeko-tex.com/en/label-check). For a lab report, look the lab up with the body that accredits it.
3. **Read the holder and the scope**: The result names the holder and the items covered. Your fabric has to fit inside that scope.
4. **Check the dates**: OEKO-TEX certificates run one year and renew under the same number. Lab reports never expire, but each describes one sample on stated dates.
5. **Read the limits line**: An honest report says its results relate to the sample tested. If a seller stretches one sample into a promise about everything, ask for the document.

## The US rules, in plain words

Indoor upholstered seating sold in the US, loose seat cushions included, falls under the federal flammability standard **16 CFR 1640**, in force since June 25, 2021. It adopted the smolder tests of California's **TB 117-2013**, which checks cover fabric, barrier and filling against a smoldering cigarette and can be met without added flame-retardant chemicals. Outdoor cushions and decorative throw pillows not meant for sitting fall outside it. The glossary has both: [16 CFR 1640](https://cushionguide.com/glossary/#16-cfr-1640) and [TB 117-2013](https://cushionguide.com/glossary/#tb117-2013).

California's **Proposition 65** asks for a warning when a product can expose people to a listed chemical above a set level. A warning is a disclosure, not a test result, and a missing warning is not a safety certificate either.

The BS 5852 reports above are British tests: useful evidence about a fabric, not a US label for a finished cushion. More in [TB 117-2013 and US fire rules](https://cushionguide.com/guides/tb-117-2013-cushion-fire-rules/), [what a Prop 65 warning means](https://cushionguide.com/guides/prop-65-warning-cushions/) and [OEKO-TEX on a cushion](https://cushionguide.com/guides/oeko-tex-standard-100-cushions/).

## What you won't find here

- ✗ Foam documents. We list a paper only after we have seen it with a holder, a number and a date, and no foam document has met that bar yet.
- ✗ Logos without a number, a holder and a date.
- ✗ Words that promise zero risk. No certificate can prove them, so we don't print them.
- ✗ Supplier spec sheets dressed up as lab results.

> An OEKO-TEX certificate is valid for one year and names one holder. Type its number into the issuer's Label Check before trusting a logo on a cushion.
>
> — Nate

> **Tailor's margin:** Screenshot the OEKO-TEX Label Check result with the date showing. A certificate renews every year, and that screenshot is your only receipt.

## Questions buyers ask next

### Is the atelier itself OEKO-TEX certified?

No. Certificate 03.T.3239 is held by the fabric mill and covers the fabrics it makes within the stated scope. That is why we write "fabrics from a mill certified to OEKO-TEX Standard 100 (03.T.3239)" and never call a finished cushion certified.

### Does an OEKO-TEX label mean a fabric resists fire?

No. Standard 100 tests for harmful substances only and says nothing about burning behavior, wear or cleaning. How a fabric behaves near a cigarette or a small flame is shown by separate tests such as BS 5852, for the specific sample tested.

### What does product class I mean on an OEKO-TEX certificate?

OEKO-TEX sorts items into four classes. Class I, for babies and toddlers up to 36 months, has the strictest limits. Upholstery fabrics normally sit in class IV, so a class I fabric was held to stricter limits than its use requires.

### Why does a lab report never expire when a certificate does?

A certificate speaks for ongoing production, so OEKO-TEX renews it every year. A lab report records what one sample did on stated dates. It never expires, and it never speaks for a different roll or a different fabric either.

*± 1/4 in — Nate*

---

Written by Nate Kowalski (https://cushionguide.com/masters/nate/) for CushionGuide (https://cushionguide.com/about/). The site explains made-to-measure cushions and the partner workshop makes them; measurements are in inches first. This Markdown mirrors the page at https://cushionguide.com/certificates/