In the early 1990s, Designtex was looking to develop more environmentally friendly fabrics and began to investigate the possibilities for a compostable upholstery. By collaborating with architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart and following their design principle of “waste=food,” Designtex set the goal for a fabric that was capable of breaking down and returning safely to the earth after its useful life was over. Designtex and McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) worked with the Swiss mill Rohner to bring the upholstery, called Climatex® Lifecycle™, to market in 1995. Simultaneously, Designtex established a new product category, Sustainable Initiatives, to signal its seriousness in continuing to develop sustainable products.
Since that time, Designtex has been dedicated to addressing the market’s most challenging concerns while continuing to design environmental intelligence into its product offering:
1995
-The first William McDonough Collection of Climatex® Lifecycle™ upholsteries is introduced
-Sustainable Initiatives product category is launched by Designtex
-Climatex® Lifecycle™ wins a Gold Award, Best of Neocon
1996
-Climatex® Lifecycle™ awarded ID Design Distinction Award for Furniture in ID Design contest
1997
-Terratex® recycled polyester is introduced as upholstery and panel fabric
1998
-Terratex® recycled solution-dyed polyester launches
-Duraprene™ alternative to PVC wallcovering debuts
2000
-Climatex® Lifecycle™ awarded First Place Design Sense Award from the Design Museum, London
2001
-Terratex® recycled polyester and Climatex® Lifecycle™ both win an Ecology Design Award at the Industrie Forum conference in Hannover, Germany
-Designtex wins a Sustainable Achievement award at GreenWorld
2003
-Designtex is first to market with Eco-Intelligent™ polyester made with an antimony-free catalyst for panel and upholstery
2005
-Designtex reclaimable nylon offers a take-back program to recycle used fabrics
-Nano-tex™ Resists Spills becomes the performance finish of choice because it does not interfere with recyclability
-Ingeo™ previews at Neocon and brings home a Silver Award in the panel fabrics category
2006
-180 Walls™, a self-adhesive recycled polyester wallcovering debuts. The adhesive eliminates the use of paste, and allows for easy replacement
-Ingeo™, the world’s first biopolymer, made from corn, is introduced by Designtex as biodegradable drapery and panel fabric
-Crypton® Green upholsteries are introduced. They are the first performance fabrics to be C2C certified.
- 180 Walls™ awarded a Silver for wall treatments in Best of Neocon
2007
-Designtex is first to market with 100% post-consumer recycled polyester upholstery made from bottles
-Designtex named a Sustainable Innovator by Metropolis Magazine
2008
-Greenwear®, an alternative to PVC wallcovering, is introduced. This innovation updates Designtex’s Hardwear collection, maintaining the same performance qualities of durability and cleanability, without the chemistry of PVC
-Sustainable Initiatives category evolves to Environmental Design, a methodology for assessing our products’ environmental qualities along their life cycles.
-Designtex named one of the Low-Carbon 20 brands by Domino Magazine.
-Environmental Design recieves a Green Star from Interior Design Magazine at NeoCon 2008.
2010
-Designtex introduces dnaWALLSTM, a non-woven, high performance, pvc-free wallcovering substrate.
-Designtex is the first to the industry to introduce NanoSphere®, an environmentally friendly, extreme performance finish for commercial textiles.
-Designtex begins to operate as a carbon neutral company.
2011
-Second year operating as a Carbon Neutral company. Offset Projects supported: Wewoka Biogas Project, Wewoka, OK.
2012
-Third year operating as a Carbon Neutral company. Offset Project supported: Iowa Farms Wind Project.
2013
-Designtex, along with supply chain partners Unifi, Victor and Steelcase are shortlisted for the 2013 Guardian Sustainable Business Award in the collaboration category, for their project to close the loop on textile waste, and the development of the upholstery Loop to Loop, which utilizes this industry waste in its contents.
-Fourth year operating as a Carbon Neutral company. Offset Projects supported in 2013: Indiana School Wind Project and Southern Ute Tribe Methane Capture and Use project in Colorado.