Sustainable textile design: the FibreGuard approach

At FibreGuard, our approach to textile design is built upon five fundamental principles. These guide every decision we make, from raw material election to final product delivery.

These values, backed by rigorous international certifications, demonstrate our commitment to creating performance textiles that are environmentally responsible.

Let’s unpack what all this means.

1. Learning from Nature

Nature is our greatest teacher in design. How can interior designers, architects and even the textiles industry itself copy the natural world? They must adapt.

By observing and respecting natural systems, we've changed our approach to textile production. And what’s the result? Remarkable innovations in our manufacturing processes and material choices.

Nature, for example, fits form to function.

It recycles everything and is always reinventing.

This is why we’re continuing to integrate The Global Recycled Standard (GRS) into our extensive development of eco-composition fabrics, which now comprise an impressive 94% of our new collections in 2024 - a tribute to our dedication to textile innovation.

The GRS is a standard that goes further than the finished products, in establishing criteria for social and environmental principles in processing GRS certified products. Everyone involved in the production of our stain resistant fabrics must ensure that they are also certified by an independent certification body, from the very beginning of production to the very end.

2. Conservation and Life Cycle Awareness

Conserving energy is essential in the natural world, and in our textile design processes too. We’re continually working to build on our energy conservation efforts, through evaluating the environmental impact of materials and products through their entire life cycle.

Our ISO 14001 certification validates our systematic approach to environmental management: it ensures that conservation remains at the heart of our operations.

Key achievements in our energy conservation include:

1. 10% reduction in total CO₂ footprint between 2022 and 2023
2. 200% increase in solar energy production
3. Zero virgin plastic usage in product packaging
4. Implementation of comprehensive recycling programs

3. Respect for People and Environment

The natural world isn’t the only thing that ‘sustainable design’ respects. It also respects humans and their needs.

Our STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® certification demonstrates our commitment to human-ecological safety. In many cases this certification is even more comprehensive than those required by national and international standards.

Key facts:

• Fabrics with the STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® certification are also tested for Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions. If you’d like to do a deep dive on the updated 2023 criteria for this certification, check out this in-depth overview.
• In addition, as of 2023, OEKO-TEX® has issued a general ban on the use of perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS/PFC) in textiles, leather and footwear for the STANDARD 100, LEATHER STANDARD and ECO PASSPORT certifications. Learn more about the new 2023 OEKO-TEX® regulations here.

We maintain unwavering standards in rigorous testing for harmful chemicals, ensuring the safety of both the people who make our products, and the products themselves. Our commitment to ethical working conditions creates an environment where our employees can thrive.

4. Respect for Local Environment

The ISO 14001 environmental management system is a framework that guides our local environmental stewardship. It gives us the ability to track and reduce our local environmental impacts, from water usage to emissions. This data-driven approach has enabled us to decrease our total CO₂ footprint by 10% between 2022 and 2023.

We constantly monitor our fabric mills’ compliance with the ISO 14001 standard which governs the effective use of resources and the reduction of waste.

In a nutshell, the benefits of ISO 14001 for our customers are:

• Minimised collective environmental footprint.
• Diminished collective risk of pollution incidents.
• Operations systems are continuously improved.

5. Respect for the Future

Our commitment to the future is reflected in our ambitious goals and verified by our Organic Content Standard (OCS) certification. We're not just creating fabrics for today: we're investing in tomorrow.

1. Target of 100% eco-composition in new collections by 2025
2. Commitment to 100% electric vehicle fleet by 2027
3. Continuous innovation in sustainable materials and processes
4. Investment in renewable energy sources

Looking Forward

As we continue our sustainability journey, these five principles remain our compass and the foundation of our comprehensive certification framework.

This framework provides the foundation for measurable progress, as well as accountability. It ensures that our commitment to sustainable design remains more than just words—it's woven into the very fabric of our business.

The textile industry faces significant environmental challenges, like many other industries. We hope that our commitment to certified standards, as well as these 5 principles, goes some way to demonstrate that performance upholstery and sustainability targets can coexist. As we move toward our 2025 goals, we invite our customers, partners, and stakeholders to join us in creating a bright future for textile design.

When design professionals specify FibreGuard fabrics, they are choosing high-quality products, with eco credentials that are transparent and easily verified by everyone.