Germany’s Freudenberg Performance Materials, a supplier of technical textiles, is endorsing further, particularly sustainable products with its Eco-Check label introduced last year. These products comply with various environmental criteria. With immediate effect, five more solutions bear the label making the company’s commitment to sustainability visible.

The newly-endorsed Eco-Check products include one Evolon microfilament textile application. This is a reinforcement material for leather goods that is manufactured with no solvent and no binder. It contains up to 80 per cent recycled PET and is suitable for a broad range of applications. The material is produced at Freudenberg’s facility in Colmar, France, where the manufacturing process is highly sustainable: it is certified to STeP by Oeko-Tex and fully complies with the Detox To Zero by Oeko-Tex criteria, the company said in a press release.

In the field of healthcare, the bio-based M 1714 wound pad with superior absorption for more challenging wounds has now been endorsed with the Eco-Check label. The dressing consists of a mix of bio-based fibres derived from natural sources and exhibits a smooth wound contact layer. The product has been evaluated for industrial compostability and conforms to ISO 13432.

The sustainable TF 400 Eco F mesh fabric for textile architecture from Mehler Texnologies now bears the Eco-Check label. Its yarn is made of 100 per cent recycled PET bottles and its characteristics are very similar to those of conventional mesh fabrics.

In the shoe industry, the binder-free strobel insoles have been endorsed as particularly sustainable. They contain a high percentage of recycled green bottle flakes. Moreover, the insoles themselves are fully recyclable. The two layered, needle-punched nonwoven filter medium that has just been endorsed with the Eco-Check label has impressive sustainability characteristics. Made entirely of polyester, more than half the fibres consist of recycled material.

Freudenberg Performance Materials already has decades-long experience in developing sustainable solutions. The company pioneered PET recycling in the early 1990s and today uses an estimated seven million PET bottles in its own manufacturing processes. The materials produced consist of 100 per cent recycled PET and are of the same quality as conventional products. Recycling saves natural resources and the PET bottles get a second life as industrial products.

“Sustainability is firmly anchored in our corporate strategy. The Eco-Check label is a quick and easy way for our customers to identify particularly sustainable solutions. The company’s own sustainability label is only used to endorse products that either save resources during production, improve the manufacturing footprint of customers, can be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner after use, or contain certain features that contribute to a long service life. The label indicates to our customers that a product offers significant direct advantages in terms of environmental protection, thus leading to more sustainable solutions,” John McNabb, CTO Freudenberg Performance Materials, said in a statement.