Clean Impact Textiles: Redefining Sustainabilty

  • Timeline

    1 Year

  • Role

    Research, Design & Strategy

    Sales Support & Operations

  • Type

    Brand Repositioning &

    Product Innovation

Background:

Duvaltex was experiencing a steady decline in sales after acquiring and merging two of the leading textile manufacturers in North America. Both the brand identity and product offerings needed to be updated to stand out in an increasingly competitive market, impacted by the shifting demands in design for offices and public spaces. This repositioning required:

  • Clarification of business objectives and target audience

  • A deep understanding of industry standards and the product development process

  • Strategic partnerships with internal and external stakeholders

The Challenge:

To create a more cohesive vision for the brand, increased cross-functional collaboration and communication was necessary. This meant looping in the C-suite and Marketing earlier on in the Design and Development process. Multiple resources and capabilities need to be evaluated across locations to define the constraints that would limit potential projects. Initial meetings with stakeholders defined some of these parameters as:

  • New product should expand on brand history

  • Innovation should follow a circular model

  • Introduce new brand concepts at Neocon, a leading commercial interior event

  • Utilize existing manufacturing tools to expedite timing and minimize complexity

The Approach:

As Senior Designer, I played a leading role in the first two phases: Ideation and Development and supported the Product Director and Marketing team in the final launch.

Ideation:

I conducted market research to propose a range of ideas from applied to conceptual design. Since North America and Europe was the target audience, I traveled to the leading trade shows in those regions from Neocon in Chicago to Orgatec in Cologne, Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, and Salone Mobile in Milan. As a manufacturer, it was also important to get buy-in from top distributors and clients, so I partnered with Sales, meeting with these key stakeholders to gather feedback and record their interactions with existing products. Takeaways included:

  • Clients are concerned about environmental impact of product lines

  • Clients are most satisfied with proprietary products and prefer exclusivity

  • Material innovation is a growing trend in the industry, especially biomaterials

  • Natural materials are leading in terms of waste reduction and circularity

A selection of visual and material research from trade shows in Milan, Cologne, and Eindhoven.

Development:

After presenting these ideas to the C-suite, my team began iterating using existing manufacturing setups to stay within the project parameters. We created graphics and engineered new woven constructions for testing between meetings with vendors to explore innovation in textile chemistry. I continued researching these new processes and their environmental impacts and met regularly to obtain customer feedback on each iteration. Additional research pointed to an opportunity to tackle environmental impact by improving existing synthetic products:

  • 55 million pounds of synthetic plastic textiles are sent to landfills every day in the US alone

  • Only 1% of all synthetic and plastic-based textiles are eventually fully recycled

The Solution:

Combining with Duvaltex’s existing post-consumer recycled polyester fabric with new chemistry, my team launched the Clean Impact Textiles Collection, an industry-first biodegradable synthetic fabric, at Neocon. This built on the company’s history as a pioneer in sustainability dating back to its launch of the first recycled polyester fabric in 1995. To align with customer demands, strategic partnerships with top clients like Luum, Steelcase, and Knoll were central to the brand’s success. I partnered with the Luum Account Executive and worked closely with Luum’s Design team to build out product components and specifications to meet their needs, culminating the launch of Grid State, Luum’s first Clean Impact offering.

The Conclusion:

Duvaltex’s Clean Impact launch was more than just a new product offering. It repositioned them as an industry leader in sustainability and innovation with a commitment to the circular economy. It set a new standard for what makes a textile sustainable, by going beyond recycling to create biodegradable materials that leave no trace. Clean Impact received industry recognition, winning Interior Design Magazine’s HiP Innovation for Good and HiP Health & Wellness awards at Neocon- the most important event for the commercial design industry.

For me, this campaign also served as an opportunity for increased cross-functional collaboration, opening lines of communication between the Product team and Marketing to break down complex technical language and increase customer reach. Building customer trust was my focus during every step of this process, and it paid off in ongoing partnerships with leaders in the commercial interior market.

“Grid State” biodegradable fabric I engineered for Luum as part of Clean Impact’s ongoing partnership with Luum.