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64 65 Innovation Stories Innovation Stories specifying more green products for their projects. Understanding the importance of this paramount shift and our social responsibilities as a company, we began rethinking the way we manufactured our fabrics and the materials we used. We knew we wanted to produce Currently, we have three fabric lines all Cradle to Revive, Cortina and Siena. Each fabric line has its own unique pattern and colors. At Mermet, we are dedicated to creating green fabrics made from environmentally responsible manufacturing processes. In 2010, our organization became aware of MBDC and the Cradle to Cradle design framework and to get on board and set an example for our industry. We also realized that the safe and healthy materials movement was gaining momentum and that architects, designers and other building professionals were putting more emphasis on sustainable building and design—and Our launch, January 2011, resulted in a fantastic market response and demand for the fabric has grown steadily. Total 2012 sales were 77% greater than 2011 and for. 2013, our six month sales are up 18%! We continued to hear from more consumers looking for green, PVC-free fabric alternatives. So we decided to create more sustainable fabrics, and in May 2011, we launched Cortina and Siena. Our fabrics have been very popular among interior designers and architects for their decorative looks and are featured on many websites such as The Ethical Fashion Source Network, Ecouterre, Specialty Fabrics Review, and Architectural Record. MATERIAL REUTILIZATION All of our fabrics can be recycled. In addition, our free in 2014. ENERGY AND WATER Gillford Performance Textiles, our manufacturing partner of Greenscreen Revive, uses 75% of their thermal is equivalent to 1 million gallons of oil. Gilford’s waste water is treated on site before being discharged and their sludge is being used for land reclamation projects. Greenscreen Revive is made of 100% PVC-free yard of GreenScreen® Revive™ fabric uses 11 post- recycled materials, a combination of post-industrial and post-consumer plastic waste. In comparison to virgin polyester, Repreve reduces energy consumption by over 6%, water consumption by nearly 50%, and greenhouse gas emissions by over 34%. reprocessed material to produce Repreve yarn which is used in our Revive fabrics. 89% of Revive fabric content is from 100% reprocessed and recycled materials by 2015. Cortina and Siena are completely recyclable 100% polyester, PVC-free fabrics. Both fabrics emulate beauty of design and functionality. OUR STORY environmentally friendly equipment, established waste collection points, and provided employees with waste management policies and procedures. As a result of our continuous efforts, approximately 90 percent of our post-production materials are now recycled. Some of these items include packaging materials, yarn and scrap fabric which is down-cycled for use in items such as Upon launch, we communicated a recycling program to our Greenscreen Revive dealers. The Recycling Program requires dealers to collect any scrap from the manufacturing of the shades as well as any shades returned from consumers and send it back to the yarn SAFER FABRICS …90 percent of our post-production materials are now recycled.
