together with
13 - 16 February 2024 // Nürnberg, Germany
BIOFACH Newsroom
MELAWEAR: The fair-trade eco-backpack for the masses
Young innovative companies pavilion
Mela is Hindi for “acting together”. Using sustainable textiles for the mass market, newcomer Henning Siedentopp wants to show that, together, people can make the world a better place piece by piece if they are more conscious about what they consume.
After food, textiles are the most important consumer product in Germany. With sustainably produced t-shirts, hoodies and backpacks from India, the Lüneburg Company is making its mark as a pioneer in the clothing sector. The timeless design, with a concentration on three product categories each with three colour varieties, ensures continuous availability (never out-of-stock). The GOTS and Fairtrade-certified products are setting new standards in the sustainable clothing sector.
“We produce in the place where the raw materials come from,” explains the company founder Henning Siedentopp, clarifying the chain of delivery. He wants to reach the masses with his sustainable textiles, and in doing so improve the sustainable industry. Melawear specifically wants to improve social standards in the textile value chain. This is why the cotton farmers are given a fixed purchase price and premium payment. As a pilot partner in the new Fairtrade textile standards, the company pays them a surcharge of 10%, in order to achieve a living wage in the textile industry within six years.
In addition to social standards, the newcomer company is broadening their ecological requirements. In addition to GOTS standards, which minimises the use of many harmful materials, the company is expanding its current production of recyclable textiles made of organic cotton, for which the materials are certified according to the Cradle to Cradle standard. Through the application of special dyes and biodegradable thread, the textiles become compostable and can be used as dung.
Until now, the Cradle to Cradle concept has been frequently used in Europe and the USA, as the implementation was easier in these places. Melawear consciously chose India. “We wanted to create added value in a part of the world which has especially suffered from the ecological and social problems of the textile industry,” says Siedentopp.
Melawear (www.melawear.de/en) is one of the exhibitors at the shared stand for young innovative companies. This is being promoted by the German government ministry for Business and Energy (BMWI) and is aimed at newcomers and start-ups from Germany. At BIOFACH, the World’s Leading Trade Fair for Organic Food (www.biofach.com), a total of 20 companies will be represented in Hall 9, from 14th-17th February 201