with foresight, we offer solutions that strike the right balance between profitability and sustainability – in a way that creates added value for our customers.
The KARL MAYER GROUP is a family business with a long tradition and a strong sense of social responsibility. In our corporate strategy, we have committed ourselves to acting in harmony with social and environmental goals, and to being guided by Environmental Social Governance (ESG) standards.
With its seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Agenda 2030 is a global plan for the promotion of long-term peace and prosperity and the protection of our planet.
As a company, we believe it is our duty to implement the SDGs. We are aware of the fact that our business activities have an impact on the conditions both in Germany, as well as in the countries where we manufacture our products.
We can make a difference particularly through the solutions and products we design and develop. With foresight, we offer solutions that strike the right balance between profitability and sustainability – in a way that creates added value for our customers.
Denims are a clothing industry staple, but are increasingly attracting criticism due to their negative impact on the environment. The manufacturers are therefore searching for manufacturing technologies for the indigo blue fabric that are both efficient, as well as eco-friendly. With BLUEDYE by KARL MAYER, the KARL MAYER Group's denim expertise centre site KARL MAYER ROTAL has developed a technology that offers both: sustainability and an increased operating efficiency that results in lower costs. The nitrogen based dyeing technology BLUEDYE minimises the gigantic water and chemical requirements. The consumption of sodium hydrosulphite and caustic soda alone – the main environmental polluters involved in the process – can be more than halved, and the volume of water required can also be significantly reduced. It also produces less yarn waste.
For this sustainable indigo dyeing solution BlUEDYE we received the German Award for Sustainability Projects 2024.
The new headquarters were constructed with energy efficiency, and therefore resource-saving, in mind. The temperature inside the buildings is controlled by a regenerative system with four heat pumps and a ventilation system with heat recovery at its core – supported by facade and roof insulation that is 80% recyclable. Electric vehicles can be charged at the forty charging stations provided, and the green spaces in the grounds that surround the buildings offer insect friendly areas with vegetation that measure almost 8,700 square metres in total. A PV system for the energy supply is currently under construction at the Obertshausen site.
The WEFTTRONIC® II G with the new VARIO WEFT laying system makes it possible to produce warp knitted fabrics that are manufactured with the aid of weft-insertion machines, i.e. technical textiles, with considerably less edge waste. The potential weft yarn saving depends on the lapping – specifically, on the number of positions to be spanned and the weft threads to be inserted – and on the fabric's weft count. A threading pattern of five full, ten idle, for example, results in a material requirement of around 61% less. This saves approx. 38,000 EUR in costs per annum, and around 256,000kg in carbon emissions.
At the core of this innovation is a mesh fabric that was manufactured on KARL MAYER technical textiles GmbH warp knitting machines with weft insertion. The warp knitted mesh fabric is made from flax. It is used as a support mesh for fast growing climbing plants, and can be recycled together with these in the autumn when the living wall is no longer green in biomass pyrolysis plants to generate power and produce charcoal. In the summer, the evaporation effects resulting from the green panels lower the ambient temperature. The photosynthesis also creates fresh air, and the panels capture carbon. The low floorspace requirement and the fact that they can be flexibly positioned in public spaces are other important advantages. The living wall system was developed by the company Micro Climate Cultivation, OMC°C, with the help of KARL MAYER technical textiles GmbH.
Chemical fibre fragments belong to the microplastics that are threatening our natural resources. They are released during the manufacture, use and laundering of textiles, and can contaminate rivers, inland waters and oceans. Our 4D-KNIT fabrics offer benefits when it comes to environmental protection. Washing clothing made from these smart fabrics releases a lower number of fibre fragments into the water than washing clothing made from their counterparts, brushed fleece fabrics, as the insulation fibres are caught in between the 3D textile's cover surfaces. The results of a gravimetric analysis study conducted by Hohenstein Laboratories in Bönnigheim have confirmed an up to ten times lower fibre release.
Natural fibre composites (NFC) make it possible to optimise the cost, performance and sustainability of light construction components. The boat building specialist GREENBOATS uses natural fibre composites to achieve more sustainable products. The so-called global warming potential (GWP), for example, shows that this has been successful: 0.48kg of carbon per kilogram of flax reinforcement, versus 2.9kg of carbon per kilogram of fibreglass reinforcement.
Our digital solutions also contribute effectively to increased sustainability, as well as profitability. The new innovative design software k. innovation CREATE DESIGN for flat knitted textiles can interact with all kinds of 3D software. This connection makes it possible to create realistic 3D renderings, which hugely reduces the need for physical patterns, and therefore the material consumption.
Blue Competence ist eine Initiative des VDMA, um Nachhaltigkeit im Maschinen‐ und Anlagenbau zu fördern, aber auch nachhaltige Lösungen der Branche bekannt zu machen. Die Blue Competence Partner verstehen nachhaltiges Handeln ganzheitlich. Das gemeinsame Ziel der Blue Competence Partner bringen 12 Nachhaltigkeitsleitsätze zum Ausdruck.
Mehr zu Blue Competence und den 12 Nachhaltigkeitsleitsätzen erfahren Sie unter www.vdma.org/bluecompetence
You can view our sustainability profile via the following link.
