SUSTAINABILITY | RAW MATERIALS & SUPPLIERS | DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT | MANUFACTURING & QUALITY | LOCATION & DISTRIBUTION | PLANS & GOALS “Textiles are very resource intensive products. This means, however, that wearing good quality clothing over a long period of time can contribute to protecting the environment.” Thomas Sieber, Area Manager CEE at KLOPMAN STEP BY OEKO-TEX® An independent certification system for brands, retailers and manufacturers from the textile and leather industry who want to communicate their environmental measures externally in a credible and transparent way. KLOPMAN: Currently the most important certification for us is STeP by OEKO-TEX® with its six modules – not just because it is the most extensive, but also because it is recognised as a precertification for the government label “The Green Button”. We have achieved the highest level of STeP by OEKO-TEX®, Level 3 for the “ideal implementation in the sense of Best Practice examples”. The fundamentals for STeP by OEKO-TEX® we have achieved include ISO certifications 9001, 14001 and 18001, compliance with the REACH Regulation and cooperating with partners in the area of sustainable cotton. The largest partner is Fairtrade. We also cooperate with BCI (Better Cotton Initiative) in Scandinavia. for technical requirements The the quality, functionality and durability of textiles have increased considerably over the last few years. How do you reconcile greater performance with the commitment to a sustainable future? AMANN: Greater performance and a sustainable company outlook are not necessarily conflicting goals. AMANN always considers both aspects when selecting raw materials for yarn. For example, our Recycled line, which is made of 100% recycled materials, meets the same high quality as our standard products. Our Cradle to Cradle certified product line Lifecycle, which was specially developed for the recycling economy, combines performance with sustainability. KLOPMAN: Ten years ago, recycled polyester was still an irregular shade of grey and unpleasant on the skin. In the meantime, fabrics of conventional and sustainable composition are now virtually the same in terms of quality. This is largely attributable to the increased value of waste and the resulting improvements in waste management. Today white and light blue bottles are separated which allows us as a fabric manufacturer to produce homogeneous products. CRADLE TO CRADLE This certification assesses five criteria: material, health, product circularity, clean air & climate protection, water & soil stew- ardship and social fairness. It is awarded at different levels, ranging from basic, bronze, silver and gold up to the highest level, platinum. The quantity of recycled polyester in 2021 equates to 8.5 MILLION plastic bottles. 18 In the last few years we have invested a great deal of time analysing our supply chain and defining our requirements in a Code of Conduct. Suppliers are regularly monitored by visits from our employees. How do you ensure that your suppliers adhere to working conditions and quality standards? AMANN: At AMANN, our Code of Conduct also requires us to comply with the highest ethical standards, such as conducting business in an ethical manner, working conditions, and health & safety and the prohibition of compulsory labour and child labour. We have drawn up a Supplier Code of Conduct and rolled this out to our suppliers in order to guarantee our understanding of ethical business practices throughout the entire supply chain. As part of our supplier management we visit suppliers regularly and carry out process, system and compliance audits. KLOPMAN: Suppliers must acknowledge the strict requirements of our Code of Conduct. We carry out scheduled and ad- hoc audits to monitor suppliers. In addition, we have built a database system which contains all available information about suppliers and the supply chain, for example the results of audits carried out by others and types of complaints. This helps us to fully comply with the German Supply Chain Act (Lieferkettengesetz) and assists us in avoiding surprises. What are the next steps towards increased sustainability for your company? AMANN: We have invested EUR 2.2 million in our production facilities to meet our ambitious resource conservation sustainability goals. Further investments totalling EUR 4 million will be made by 2024 to expand the wastewater treatment plants with different membrane filtration systems, saving measures and reduce water consumption in the dyeworks. In addition to production we have also focussed on our yarn carriers and packaging materials. We wanted to increase the recyclable percentage and/or switch to another sustainable raw material while minimising the amount of outer packaging used. implement energy