Second chance for our fabric scraps

In the past, however, the biggest buyer of our fabric scraps was the vocational training center. Then sewing was abolished as a training occupation. Together with Annefried Preiss and Johannes Brennig, Holger Steinbrecht therefore set out last year to find new uses for our fabric scraps. Now they have found them.

"A colleague from the small parts warehouse gave me potholders that she had sewn from our fabric offcuts. Not only did they look great, but they also gave me an idea: we could rely even more on the creativity of our employees when recycling our fabrics." That's what Holger Steinbrecht says, because, according to the head of chair production, "Disposing of the blanks was no longer an option for us from a sustainability point of view."

This is where our app for employees came into play. On the one hand, the youKNow app introduced in 2022 serves as an information medium that allows us to network even better with each other, but it also proved to be an excellent channel for harnessing the much-vaunted swarm intelligence in the König + Neurath team.

With an ideas competition, Steinbrecht, Preiss and Brennig collected creative and sustainable usage ideas for our high-quality and robust fabrics, which are available in numerous colors and textures. A lot came together. In total, they received around 40 suggestions. In addition to private sewing projects, we now also support commercial customers with our fabrics, for example the Berlin-based manufactory Glckskind.

Holger Steinbrecht's initial thought, "What a shame if we don't continue to use great fabrics!" turned into enthusiasm over the last few months: "Everyone's great commitment is bearing fruit: this way we can save resources and act sustainably!" he says happily today.

Jan Wegmann came up with the Berlin-based creative duo Glckskind. The colleague, who is responsible for the development and design of storage furniture at König + Neurath, is a loyal fan and follower of the label. He inquired with the two Berliners, and soon the first König + Neurath fabrics were on their way to Berlin ... where they are now being processed by Valerie and Claudia Scilabro with sewing machine, cutting plotter and transfer press.

König + Neurath: What does Glckskind do?

Glckskind: Our offering is in a small velophile niche. Currently, our focus is still on printing high-quality textiles for bike fans. We also offer handmade limited small series and unique items such as lino prints, mini cards, bags and much more. Many of the series are so sought after that they sell out within 48 hours. In 2023, this should become our main business.

König + Neurath: What do you use the fabric scraps from König + Neurath for?

Glckskind: The fabrics from König + Neurath are a very welcome addition to our arsenal of salvaged resources as source material for our small sewing factory. We plan to use the fabrics in our handmade styles - initial tests with our custom laptop bag, messenger bags of varying construction, and roll-top backpacks are very promising. We are also experimenting with finishing König + Neurath's fabrics by printing them with salvaged materials from our textile printing.

König + Neurath: What makes Glckskind's offering special?

Glckskind: We take up suggestions and proposals (mainly from the Twitter community) and try to implement them promptly to the best of our ability and with the active involvement of our users.

We use in our handmade unique pieces and small series almost exclusively salvaged materials, partly from our own production (e.g. misprints, overproduction) and partly bought in, such as seat belts that do not meet the strict criteria of the car industry. They serve us as shoulder straps for bags and backpacks.