Edmund Bell, a leading global supplier of fabrics and accessories to the commercial, institutional and domestic interiors markets, showcased their comprehensive range of flame retardant decorative blackout, dimout, sheer, woven, upholstery and print fabrics over four days at their twelfth Heimtextil exhibition in Frankfurt. With 44,000 visitors and 2,400 exhibitors together from 129 nations, the global textile industry was out in force for the start of 2023!

But what’s more exciting, we also previewed not one, but FOUR brand new fabrics made from recycled materials!

RESET – the first blackout fabric made from recycled materials

RESET is our first blackout fabric made from recycled materials, and it is also an industry first! Welcoming new materials into the world and infusing the dimensions of texture and structure, RESET represents that soft tactile wool look. Offering timeless appeal, it is sure to work effortlessly in any contract environment. With a super soft handle, the face fabric is made from 100% recycled polyester (57% overall recycled after coating).

DUO double-sided recycled dimout

Laid back and casual, DUO is a smart double-sided strié effect dimout made from 32% recycled inherent FR polyester and 68% inherent FR polyester. Lucky to be characterised by a texture on both sides; expect the unexpected with the use of elegant, recycled yarns creating a very stylish two-tone simplicity.

LINK & SWAY – sheer fabrics using FR recycled REPREVE® yarns

Humans use around 1.2 million plastic bottles per minute and only 56% are recycled.

LINK and SWAY are made using inherent FR recycled polyester REPREVE® yarns – the world’s leading brand of recycled performance fibre. REPREVE® high-quality fibres are made from 100% recycled materials, including post-consumer plastic bottles and pre-consumer waste. Using recycled instead of virgin polyester produces fewer carbon emissions and gives plastic bottles a second life, keeping them out of oceans and landfills.

LINK, with its sculptured grid like structure and a super modernist architectural look, is made using 31% recycled Repreve yarns (made from recycled plastic bottles) and so truly fulfils a sustainable message meeting all our strict testing protocols as well as being 100% FR. Extra usable width at 320cm is a bonus as well.

SWAY, with its natural linen look and fluid movement, has exceptional drape quality and is woven with a super slub profile yarn, capturing a very timeless atmospheric character. It is made from 100% recycled FR yarns, so purposeful in today’s sustainable world.

Sales Director Fiona Napier comments: “The impact that our business and our products have on the environment is extremely important to us and we are committed to working towards a sustainable future. Part of that includes producing fabrics that are made using recycled materials, and also working alongside various associations and commitments to continue to improve our sustainability initiatives across the entire business.”

As well as The Climate Pledge, another company we’re excited to have partnered with recently is Ecologi – an environmental company with a platform for real climate action. Ecologi facilitate the funding of carbon offset projects and tree planting in locations such as Madagascar, Mozambique, Kenya and more locations around the world. Planting trees is one of the best tools we have in removing carbon pollution from our atmosphere, helping to tackle the climate crisis. They are also crucial in preventing ecological collapse.

For this reason, we pledged to plant a tree for every business card they received in a specially designed box (made from recycled cardboard) on our stand at Heimtextil. We received a total of 208 business cards – an amazing effort from visitors to our stand! Wanting to improve on this figure, we then decided to plant a tree for every single member within the Redwood Group of companies (who Edmund Bell are part of) – overall we’re proud to announce that we’ve planted 500 trees in total for January 🌱🌳. With more initiatives planned in the future!

Take a look at our forest and see how we’re getting on here: https://ecologi.com/edmundbell

Group CEO John Atherton comments: “We are working hard to ensure that we are doing everything we can across new product development and other business processes, to reach our sustainability and environmental goals. Although we are proud of what we have achieved up to now, we recognise there is more we can do, and we still have a long way to go to achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2040. With hard work and our dedicated ‘Green Team’ in place within the business, we are looking forward to the challenges ahead”.

Having supported the Heimtextil exhibition for over twenty years, it has been a key part of our consistent export sales growth. This was our twelfth attendance in a row under the current ownership of the Atherton family; and the best yet!

Adam Wilde, Group Head of Marketing says “After a three year wait, we were eager to be back at Heimtextil and extremely excited to showcase the new products and services we’ve been working on for the last three years, including 4 new recycled fabric options! For 2023, we refreshed the look of the stand to make it feel more open and included a striking recycled / sustainable installation at the front showing the new recycled ranges. We were very encouraged by the positive customer reaction and increase in quality delegates visiting the stand – the exhibition is certainly showing no signs of slowing down!”

Not one to rest on our laurels; our team are already thinking about how we can improve the visitor experience at Heimtextil 2024. There will also be more product launches throughout the year to look out for!

To find out more and follow our journey to become carbon neutral by 2040, visit:  www.ebtozero.com

For further information about us or our extensive product range and services please email sales@edmundbell.com, call +44 (0)1706 717070 or visit www.edmundbell.com