Yarn maker recognised for helping rainforest communities
10/05/2013
The family business has production facilities in Dietenheim and Balzheim near Ulm in and supplies to companies including Triumph International, and Schiesser and Speidel.
"Environmental protection and sustainability are not just lip service for us," said Andreas Merkel, managing director. "they determine our business activities. We have firmly embedded this claim into our company philosophy."
The company developed the Piumafil yarn in 2006, which is a mixture of wild kapok and hand-picked cotton spun into premium yarn. Until then, the kapok fibre had been thought to be unsuitable for spinning and was primarily used as a filling material. Kapok is a hollow cellulosic fibre which contains 80% air and is six times lighter than cotton.
The natural wax coating of the fibre only allows a low level of moisture absorption – an advantage that offers excellent wearing properties for clothing textiles.
The kapok tree is a tropical plant indigenous to Indonesia, Java, Malaysia, West Africa, the Caribbean and northern South America. Mr Merkel added: "A demand for the fibres from wild kapok trees ensures the livelihood of the local population who harvest these fruit by hand. This in turn prevents deforestation by fire in these areas."
The company is an official partner of the nature conservation organisation WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature). Part of the profits from Piumafil go towards the reforestation of the tropical rainforest.
Another innovative product concept is the recot² fibre which was developed in cooperation with Ulm university. The name is a combination of the words ‘recycled’ and ‘cotton’. The power of 2 represents the magnitude of the possible savings with regard to water as a natural resource. The new fibre mix consists of 50% raw cotton and 50% recycled selected production waste or 75% organic raw cotton and 25% recycled cotton. This saves water and significantly reduces the use of pesticides.
Mr Merkel said: "The lack of water is becoming dramatically obvious in more and more regions of the world. With this approach, we have made our contribution to the protection of this valuable and life-sustaining natural resource."
The company produces an annual output of more than 3,000 tons of cotton yarn in modern plants for spinning, twisting, dyeing and yarn mercerising.
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