Mattes & Ammann products bag Oeko-Tex 1000 certificate

Mattes & Ammann have been committed to environmental management early on and are especially dedicated to continuing improvements in all areas of the company. Christoph Larsen-Mattes sums up: "As a medium-sized company, sustainability is an essential principle of business management for us. Especially in our fast lived times, we think in the medium and long term as well, focusing on continuity."

The environmental management system implemented at Mattes & Ammann is therefore tailored to a comprehensive sustainable concept. The company documents their environmental achievements through certifications according to ISO 14001 as well as according to the EU eco audit regulation EMAS. As early as 1993, Mattes & Ammann were one of the first companies to have their products successfully certified according to the human ecology requirements of the OEKO-TEX Standard 100 and they have continually expanded the percentage of certified products in the range to now 99%.

In addition, the company's environmentally friendly production conditions were certified according to OEKO-TEXStandard 1000 in 1998 as only the second textile manufacturer worldwide and the company can market their circular knit fabrics with the OEKO-TEX Standard 100plus label, also since 1998.

To improve the environmental balance, new measures are developed and implemented in the framework of an in-house environmental programme each year. The acquisition of several company-owned oil cleaning devices for example allows used needle oils to be processed and reused to a great extent which permanently reduces costs.

Propylene sleeves coming out of production without yarn residue are ground in an in-house mill and sold to the plastics industry as a high quality raw material for further processing. In addition to this, Mattes & Ammann are implementing a range of measures which successfully contribute to the optimisation of the environmental performance.

This particularly includes waste disposal which is organised and documented in the facilities in an exemplary manner, measures for energy savings and CO2 prevention, but also in-house improvements regarding material flow or innovative information technologies such as the "paperless office".

"A central aim of our actions and a criterion for the development of our products is to not burden the environment any more than absolutely necessary," Christoph Larsen-Mattes points out. "We are consistently striving to pass on this idea within the supply chain as well and are always very delighted when another supplier has taken action towards environmental management."

OEKO-TEX