Clothing, bedding and other textiles must show their full fibre composition before the purchase — online just as in a shop. Only the fibre names in Annex I of the Textile Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 are allowed, with percentages and in the language of the country of sale. “Bamboo”, “microfibre” or abbreviations such as “PES” are not among them, and only a single-fibre product may say “100 %”.
The rule
Under Article 16(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, the fibre composition must be clearly visible to the consumer before the purchase, “including in cases where the purchase is made by electronic means”. For your listing that means:
- every fibre with its share by weight in per cent, in descending order (Article 9(1)),
- only names from Annex I (Article 5),
- in the official language of the country you sell in — German on Amazon.de, Otto or Kaufland (Article 16(3)),
- legible in the listing itself, not only in a photo of the care label.
The German Textile Labelling Act (TextilKennzG) explicitly extends this to sales “by electronic means”, requires German and makes retailers responsible for it (§ 4(1), (4) and (5)). Breaches are administrative offences with fines of up to €10,000 (§ 12), and competitors send Abmahnungen for them as well.
Only names from Annex I
Annex I lists the permitted fibre names, from wool and cotton through viscose, modal and lyocell to polyester, polyamide or nylon and elastane. No other names may be used for the composition, and the Annex I names may not be used for other fibres, not even as part of a word or as an adjective (Article 5(2)). On a German listing, use the German names:
| Not allowed | Use instead |
|---|---|
| Bambus, bamboo fibre | Viskose (usually), Lyocell or Modal — depending on the process, as stated in the supplier’s data sheet |
| Mikrofaser, microfibre | the actual fibre, e.g. Polyester or Polyamid |
| PES, CO, EL, PA | Polyester, Baumwolle, Elasthan, Polyamid |
| Spandex, Lycra (on its own) | Elasthan — the LYCRA® trade mark only directly next to it |
| Kunstseide, Seidenoptik (silk look) | Viskose or Polyester — “Seide” only for real silk |
| Leinenoptik (linen look, made of cotton) | Baumwolle; describe the look separately |
You may show trade marks such as TENCEL™, but only immediately before or after the fibre name, e.g. “100 % Lyocell (TENCEL™)” (Article 16(2)). What a viscose was made from is additional information that has to be kept separate from the composition. The safest approach is to keep “bamboo” out of the title and the composition altogether.
“100 %” and “pure”
“100 %”, “pure” or “all” — in German “100 %”, “rein” or “ganz”, and similar words such as “pur” — may only describe a product made entirely of one fibre (Article 7(1)). A shirt of 95 % cotton and 5 % elastane is not “100 % Baumwolle”, not in the title and not in a bullet point.
The only tolerance is for technically unavoidable extraneous fibres: at most 2 % by weight, 5 % for carded products, and only if they are not added as a matter of routine (Article 7(2)). Elastane for stretch is always added on purpose and never falls under it.
Special cases
- “Schurwolle” (virgin wool) is reserved for wool that has never been part of a finished product (Article 8, Annex III).
- Fibres up to 5 %, or together up to 15 %, may be stated as “sonstige Fasern” (other fibres) with their total share where they are hard to determine at manufacture (Article 9(2)).
- If the product contains leather, fur or horn as a non-textile part, the label must say “Enthält nichttextile Teile tierischen Ursprungs” (contains non-textile parts of animal origin, Article 12). For online offers, § 4(5) TextilKennzG exempts this statement in Germany; it does no harm in the listing.
- If a product has parts with different compositions, such as the shell and lining of a jacket, each part is stated separately (Article 11). The only exception is parts under 30 % of the weight that are not the main lining.
Generic environmental words such as “nachhaltige Baumwolle” are a different problem, see the green claims ban. How to fit the composition into an Amazon title without overloading it is covered in Amazon title rules.
Example
- Before
- Bambus T-Shirt Damen, 100 % natürlich, super weich, mit Stretch
- After (title)
- Damen T-Shirt aus Viskose mit Elasthan, Rundhals, Schwarz
- After (composition)
- 95 % Viskose, 5 % Elasthan
“100 % natürlich” goes: viscose is a man-made fibre produced from cellulose, and the shirt is not made of a single fibre.
Check your listing
The free listing check recognises textile products and flags non-permitted fibre names, abbreviations, missing percentages and “100 %” claims on blends. You can also test single phrases in the claims checker and title length in the title checker.