CENTRO TESSILE COTONIERO E ABBIGLIAMENTO SpA

Centro Tessile Cotoniero e Abbigliamento SpA, known widely as Centrocot, is a leading Italian certification, research, and testing centre founded on 7 October 1987 and headquartered in Busto Arsizio, in the province of Varese, Lombardy — the heart of Italy's historic cotton textile district. With more than 100 professionals and eight specialist laboratories, Centrocot has grown from a regional textile institute into one of the most authoritative references in Europe for quality, chemical safety, sustainability, and certification across the full textile and apparel supply chain. The centre serves manufacturers, brands, importers, and retailers at every stage of production: from raw fibres and yarns to finished garments, technical textiles, leather goods, packaging, food-contact articles, plastic materials, and chemical inputs.

The Centrocot laboratory system lists more than 2,100 individual tests and services, of which approximately 774 are formally accredited by ACCREDIA — Italy's national accreditation body and a full member of the ILAC mutual recognition arrangement — making Centrocot the leading laboratory in Italy by the number of accredited tests in the textile field. The quality management system conforms to UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17025, guaranteeing transparency, impartiality, and metrological traceability throughout the entire testing chain. This combination of breadth and accredited status means results produced in Centrocot's laboratories are internationally recognised and accepted by regulatory authorities, brands, and notified bodies across the European Union and beyond.

The physical testing laboratories offer a comprehensive programme of mechanical, dimensional, and durability analyses on textiles, knitted and woven fabrics, and finished garments. Tests cover tensile strength, tear resistance, abrasion resistance, pilling, seam strength, colour fastness to washing, rubbing, light and perspiration, dimensional stability, and garment durability assessed in accordance with standards such as ISO 105, ISO 13934, ISO 13937, ISO 12945, NF G30-113-1, and NF G30-113-2. Simulated maintenance cycles — washing, tumble-drying, and ironing — are conducted in accordance with ISO 6330 to generate durability ratings supporting sustainability claims. The chemical testing laboratories address restricted substances legislation and voluntary ecological standards, analysing textiles, accessories, and chemical formulations for formaldehyde, pH, heavy metals (including lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel, and arsenic), allergenic and carcinogenic azo dyes, organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides, phthalates, flame retardants, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and a wide range of regulated substances governed by REACH, EU textile-labelling requirements, CPSC regulations, and international buyer specifications.

Since 1996 Centrocot has held the status of European Commission Notified Body (notification number 0624) for the evaluation and CE certification of personal protective equipment (PPE) — specifically protective clothing and protective gloves — under Regulation (EU) 2016/425. The centre conducts type-examination and ongoing quality-surveillance activities for PPE destined for the European single market, covering chemical protective clothing, heat and flame protective garments, high-visibility apparel, cut-resistant gloves, and hand protection against mechanical hazards. Accredited tests under standards including UNI EN ISO 9185 (protection against molten metal splash), UNI EN ISO 13997 (cut resistance by blade), and UNI EN ISO 24231 directly underpin this notified-body programme. By 2022, Centrocot had issued more than 1,500 CE certificates for protective devices, confirming its role as a primary conformity-assessment resource for PPE manufacturers supplying the European market.

Centrocot is an authorised member institute of the OEKO-TEX Association — the international network of testing and research institutes active in 85 countries — and issues the full portfolio of OEKO-TEX certifications. The OEKO-TEX Standard 100 programme tests textile products at every processing stage against a catalogue of over 100 potentially harmful substances, granting the widely recognised label that signals freedom from harmful chemical residues for consumers. Centrocot additionally certifies under OEKO-TEX MADE IN GREEN, verifies production facilities under OEKO-TEX STeP (Sustainable Textile Production, for assessing environmental and social standards at manufacturing sites), supports chemical management through OEKO-TEX DETOX TO ZERO, and issues OEKO-TEX LEATHER STANDARD certificates for tanned hides and skins. By 2022 the institute had granted more than 1,600 OEKO-TEX certificates, placing it among the most active OEKO-TEX member bodies in the world.

Beyond standard apparel and woven textiles, Centrocot operates dedicated specialist laboratories addressing cross-sector and emerging technical requirements. The Microbiological Textile Laboratory evaluates antibacterial, antifungal, and antimicrobial performance of treated fabrics, as well as general hygienic assessments relevant to functional and medical-adjacent textiles. The Comfort Laboratory measures air permeability, water-vapour resistance, thermal resistance, and moisture-management properties critical to sportswear, workwear, and performance fabrics. Separate laboratories quantify electromagnetic shielding effectiveness for conductive and shielded textiles and measure electrostatic properties including surface resistivity and charge decay — parameters essential for industries requiring protection against electrostatic discharge. Testing capabilities extend to leather hides and skins, food-contact packaging and plastics, and chemical formulations used in dyeing and textile finishing. Centrocot is also the only Italian institute authorised to issue the UV Standard 801 label, attesting to the ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) of textile products — an increasingly sought-after credential for outdoor, sportswear, and beachwear categories.

With over three decades of continuous operation, more than 100 specialist staff, ACCREDIA/ILAC-recognised accreditation spanning hundreds of test methods, European Commission Notified Body status for PPE CE certification, active membership in the global OEKO-TEX network, and a dedicated training division (I.TN — Istituto Tessile del Nord) offering post-diploma technical courses for quality-control specialists and laboratory analysts, Centrocot represents one of the most comprehensive and credible third-party testing and certification partners available to the global textile, apparel, leather, technical-fabric, packaging, and chemical industries. Buyers seeking independent quality, chemical safety, restricted-substance, or ecological verification for products entering the European or international market will find in Centrocot a single-source partner capable of covering regulatory compliance, voluntary certification, and advanced applied research under one roof.