Hohenstein Institutes head Prof. Jürgen Mecheels dies

31 Jul '06

2 min read

Following a long illness, Prof. Jürgen Mecheels, former head of the Hohenstein Institutes and an internationally recognised scientist in textile research, died on 31 July 2006, aged 78 . At the head of the private research and service centre, he was largely responsible for shaping the modern, practice-oriented face of the company up until 1995, and with the foundation of the Hohenstein Institute for Clothing Physiology back in 1961, laid the scientific basis for the wide range of services from which the entire textile industry, including textile cleaners and industrial laundries, benefit.

Another milestone in the work of Jürgen Mecheels was the introduction of the Oeko-Tex Standard 100, a standardised procedure to test textile prod ucts for harmful substances, which he developed in 1992 in conjunction with Prof. Wilhelm Herzog of the Austrian Textile Research Institute in Vienna. His conviction, which was visionary for the time, that consumers would increasingly set store by textiles which posed no risk to their health, has now been confirmed one million-fold in almost 40 countries: over 53,000 certificates issued for millions of individual products make the Oeko-Tex label the world's most successful test label for textiles optimised in terms of human ecology.

In addition to his untiring commitment to the interests of the textile industry as a whole, the well-being of employees at his family's institute lay closest to Jürgen Mecheels' heart right to the veryend. He was valued by employees as a fair leader, who always had an open ear to their problems. The cooperative style of leadership which he embodied, and the knowledge that employees represent a company's true capital, continues to define the working atmosphere at the Hohenstein Institutes to this day, and creates a high de and amongst individual employees.

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