Our fib­re stars:
Sus­taina­bi­li­ty in the fabric

The high qua­li­ty and dura­bi­li­ty of our fabrics alre­a­dy con­tri­bu­te to sus­taina­bi­li­ty. Becau­se the lon­ger a pro­duct life cycle is, the bet­ter it is for the environment.

INDICATORS

Sub-topics

↓ Cot­ton
↓ Ten­cel™
↓ Recy­cled polyester

→ Our sup­p­ly chains
→ Our envi­ron­men­tal manage­ment approach

> GRI 102–9

Our start­ing point is the end result: Fabric with bespo­ke fea­tures – exact­ly how our cus­to­mers want it. The best pos­si­ble basis for hard-wea­ring work­wear or dura­ble bed linen, always in the usu­al qua­li­ty and exact­ly the same colour.

We exclu­si­ve­ly pro­cess high-qua­li­ty raw fabric made of long-stap­le fib­re mate­ri­als, whe­ther cot­ton, poly­es­ter or lyo­cell. This is becau­se the high qua­li­ty and dura­bi­li­ty of our fabrics alre­a­dy con­tri­bu­te to sus­taina­bi­li­ty. The lon­ger a pro­duct life cycle is, the bet­ter it is for the envi­ron­ment. Our fib­re stars show that sus­taina­bi­li­ty starts right at the front of the value chain: During fib­re production.

> GRI 102–9

Cot­ton

The cot­ton fib­re has many posi­ti­ve pro­per­ties. The­se include good mois­tu­re absorp­ti­on and a soft, cool feel. As a natu­ral fib­re, cot­ton is by natu­re a rene­wa­ble resour­ce and biodegradable.

Peo­p­le have worn cot­ton for at least 5000 years. Cot­ton plants ori­gi­na­ted in Asia, Afri­ca and South Ame­ri­ca. They grow best in a warm, humid cli­ma­te. Today, cot­ton is cul­ti­va­ted in more than 80 count­ries all over the world. The lea­ding gro­wing count­ries are India and Chi­na, fol­lo­wed by the USA, Bra­zil and Pakistan.

Cot­ton, the thirsty fib­re? Not quite … Learn more about the water con­sump­ti­on of the cot­ton plant here!

You want to know more about cotton?

You can find lots of exci­ting infor­ma­ti­on about cot­ton at the → Bre­men Cot­ton Exch­an­ge.

> GRI 102–9
> GRI 308–1

Ori­gi­nal TENCEL™ Lyo­cell from Lenzing

As soft as silk, as cool as linen and as warm as pure new wool: The cel­lu­lo­se fib­re Lyo­cell, bet­ter known under the brand name TENCEL™, com­bi­nes many good pro­per­ties. Supe­ri­or absor­ben­cy, heat regu­la­ti­on, a coo­ling effect and redu­ced bac­te­ri­al growth.

From a sus­taina­bi­li­ty per­spec­ti­ve, TENCEL™ Lyo­cell is also more than con­vin­cing: The fib­re con­sists of the rene­wa­ble raw mate­ri­al wood, arti­fi­ci­al irri­ga­ti­on is not neces­sa­ry and the forest are­as do not com­pe­te with land used for gro­wing food.

Pro­duc­tion pro­cess of TENCEL™ lyo­cell fib­re at Lenzing

We only use Lyo­cell fibres of the TENCEL™ brand from Lenzing. The Aus­tri­an-based Lenzing Group is one of the world’s lea­ding pro­du­cers of fib­re pulp from wood and cel­lu­lo­se fibres. The com­pa­ny is com­mit­ted to the eco­lo­gi­cal­ly respon­si­ble pro­duc­tion of fibres from wood grown in sus­tain­ab­ly mana­ged forests and plan­ta­ti­ons. 100 per cent of the Lenzing Group’s sup­pli­ers must com­ply with the glo­bal Lenzing Sup­pli­er Code of Con­duct. More than 99 per cent of the pulp sup­pli­ers used by the Lenzing Group are eit­her FSC® or PEFC™-cer­ti­fied or are audi­ted accor­ding to the­se stan­dards. → In the Lenzing Group Sus­taina­bi­li­ty Report, the com­pa­ny open­ly com­mu­ni­ca­tes how sus­tainable raw mate­ri­al sourcing is implemented.

Lenzing is ran­ked as the lea­ding pro­du­cer of wood-based cel­lu­lo­se fibres by the non-pro­fit orga­ni­sa­ti­on Cano­py. The aim of the orga­ni­sa­ti­on and its ran­king is to ensu­re that cel­lu­lo­se fibres from pris­ti­ne and end­an­ge­red forests are not pro­ces­sed into tex­ti­les. You can find more infor­ma­ti­on about the ran­king → here

Exter­nal links

→ Lenzing web­site
→ Lenzing Sus­taina­bi­li­ty Report 2022

Lyo­cell share in the fabric portfolio 
15%

More than 99%

of the sup­pli­ers are cer­ti­fied accor­ding to a reco­g­nis­ed stan­dard for sus­tainable forestry.
You want to know more about TENCEL™?

A lot of exci­ting infor­ma­ti­on about lyo­cell fib­re TENCEL™ can be found at the manu­fac­tu­rer → Lenzing.

> EMAS
> GRI 102–9
> GRI 301–2
> GRI 308–1

Recy­cled poly­es­ter: Ori­gi­nal REPREVE® from Unifi

Recy­cled poly­es­ter is more envi­ron­men­tal­ly fri­end­ly and con­ser­ves more resour­ces than so-cal­led vir­gin poly­es­ter. The recy­cled poly­es­ter is obtai­ned eit­her from was­te stem­ming from pro­duc­tion pro­ces­ses (pre-con­su­mer was­te) or from con­su­mer was­te (post-con­su­mer was­te), for exam­p­le, PET bevera­ge bot­t­les. The eco­lo­gi­cal advan­ta­ge of recy­cled poly­es­ter is made clear by the Higg Mate­ri­als Sus­taina­bi­li­ty Index (MSI for short).

Own repre­sen­ta­ti­on based on the Higg-MSI

We only use recy­cled poly­es­ter of the REPREVE® brand from Uni­fi. Uni­fi is one of the lea­ding manu­fac­tu­r­ers of recy­cled poly­es­ter and sets new stan­dards with its REPREVE® brand. Mecha­ni­cal recy­cling makes the fib­re pro­du­ced more envi­ron­men­tal­ly fri­end­ly than vir­gin poly­es­ter. We have the authen­ti­ci­ty of the goods ensu­red by an addi­tio­nal inspec­tion at Unifi.

All upstream sup­pli­ers are also cer­ti­fied accor­ding to the Glo­bal Recy­cled Stan­dard (GRS). This ensu­res a trans­pa­rent sup­p­ly chain back to the ori­gin of the recy­cled poly­es­ter. This stan­dard con­ta­ins, among other things, requi­re­ments for che­mi­cal and envi­ron­men­tal manage­ment. Com­pli­ance with cer­tain social stan­dards is also che­cked in an annu­al audit.

Exter­nal links

→ Higg Mate­ri­als Sus­taina­bi­li­ty Index
→ Glo­bal Recy­cled Standard

100%

of our upstream sup­pli­ers are cer­ti­fied accor­ding to the Glo­bal Recy­cled Standard.
You want to know more about REPREVE®?

You can find lots of exci­ting infor­ma­ti­on about REPREVE® direct­ly at → Uni­fi.

Next artic­le >
Our sup­p­ly chains
Fur­ther artic­les on the topic
Good Tomorrow
Sustainable textile
Enviroment
Social

CSR-Standards 

About this report

go to the Corporate Website

Hch. Kettelhack GmbH & Co. KG
Birkenallee 183, 48432 Rheine

© 2020 kettelhack . All rights reserved 

Facebook Twitter Youtube

Konzept & Design

to top

Lyocell

Lyocell , auch bekannt unter dem Markennamen TENCEL™, ist eine aus Cellulose bestehende, industriell hergestellte Cellulose-Regeneratfaser, die nach dem Direkt-Lösemittelverfahren hergestellt wird. Sie wird vor allem im Bereich der Textilindustrie, aber auch für Vliesstoffe (Nonwovens) und technische Anwendungen genutzt. Die Cellulose wird aus dem Rohstoff Holz extrahiert. Der Hersteller Lenzing ist einer der größten Produzenten dieser Cellulosefaser und vertreibt diese unter dem Markennamen TENCEL™ .

Cotton – the thirsty fibre?

Cotton often has the reputation of consuming a lot of water in cultivation and thus being less "sustainable". In fact, the water consumption is significantly higher compared to the synthetic fibre polyester, but this is also due to the fact that it is an agricultural product. Agriculture accounts for about 70 per cent of global water consumption, with cotton accounting for only 3 per cent. Irrigation in cotton production is predominantly (at about 55 per cent) rain-fed. Artificial irrigation of the fields is targeted due to economic constraints caused by the cost of water, pumps and the necessary labour. In India and the USA, about one third of the cultivated area is artificially irrigated, in China up to 95 per cent and in Pakistan 100 per cent. However, targeted irrigation can also lead to an increase in yields of up to 400 per cent – thereby increasing the efficiency of land use. Due to its biodegradability, cotton also has a decisive advantage over synthetic fibres.

Lyocell

Lyocell, also known under the brand name TENCEL™, is an industrially produced regenerated cellulose fibre made from cellulose using the direct solvent process. It is mainly used in the textile industry, but also for nonwovens and technical applications. The cellulose is extracted from the raw material wood. The manufacturer Lenzing is one of the largest producers of this cellulose fibre and markets it under the brand name TENCEL™.

FSC®

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international non-profit organisation. The FSC label identifies forest products as coming from forestry operations that are certified according to FSC criteria. The organisation is thus committed to sustainable forest use. (Source: wikipedia)

PEFC™

PEFC stands for Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes and is an international forest certification scheme. This independent organisation works to ensure and continuously improve sustainable forest management. The PEFC label identifies wood products that come from certified forests. (Source: wikipedia)

Infographic
Development of water consumption in m3

The high level of water consumption in production brings with it a corresponding volume of waste water. Compliance with the limit values from the Waste Water Ordinance is ensured by the indirect discharge permit. The daily control of the mixing and equalisation basin by our employees, as well as through the regular inspections by the responsible monitoring authorities, give us the necessary security. 

Consent Management Platform by Real Cookie Banner