-By Jennifer Thiele Busch

For the designer in search of the perfect green product to specify, the bad news is, it doesn't exist, except in nature. And once you remove it from nature and modify it for your purposes, it won't be perfectly green anymore. In reality, making any decision on sustainability often involves a lesser-of-two-evils scenario: designer and client need to identify together which sustainable goals are most important to the project (i.e. energy, waste, resources, recyclability, etc.) and specify accordingly. For this reason, the product knowledge that can help designers make the most informed decision is vital to the green specification process.

Not all manufacturers can provide this product information easily, though reputable ones are making honest and increasingly sufficient efforts to answer customers' questions about material content, life cycle, manufacturing processes, supply chains, etc. Still, the industry has long mulled over the belief that a simple label telling a potential purchaser "How Green is this Product?" would be nice. Now, Designtex, which has been quietly pioneering sustainability in the textile realm for more than a decade, has gone and done it with the introduction of its newest green initiative, Environmental Design (ED, for short), which brings life-cycle thinking to product development and marketing. Says Carol Derby, director of environmental strategy for Designtex, "If we understand sustainability as a closed loop, we need to look at how design decisions play out in a product's life. The seven stages of Environmental Design bring awareness to each step in the product life cycle and create opportunities for closing the loop."

The ED Wheel is essentially an informational tool (literally, a label) that Designtex will apply to sampling in its newly launched Environmental Design Collection, an extensive grouping of upholsteries, draperies, and wallcoverings that all have environmental design attributes. Using the seven stages of a product life cycle as a guide—raw materials, construction, production, application, useful life, end of use, and reutilization—the ED Wheel will be customized for each Environmental Design product, clearly noting how that particular product measures up in each of the life-cycle categories. The initiative moves Designtex away from using the blanket label "sustainable products" and toward a more precise and forthcoming explanation of each particular product's sustainable attributes. "At Designtex we are changing how we look at sustainability," says Tom Hamilton, president and CEO."Environmental Design is a new and honest methodology providing clarity and insight into our products. It shifts our focus from trying to identify sustainability in a material to a broader view of locating sustainable potential along a product's life cycle."

Not surprisingly, the ED initiative was a little bit lost on some NeoCon® attendees, first because it is an informational, not a visual message, and second because it takes a bit more explanation than the typical down-and-dirty product presentation allowed by hectic schedules at a busy show. But the industry should take note of this subtle but innovative shift in the way Designtex is communicating with its clients. Like the ACT label, the ED Wheel can potentially make a product specification a whole lot more clear and whole lot less time consuming for the designer. The collection includes five new pattern groupings. Tessin, Hess, and Chalet take advantage of developments that have allowed for Climatex®Lifecycle™ products to be woven with more sophisticated textures and designs. Inspired by the finest men’s suiting materials and refined shirt striping, these fabrics have an amazingly soft hand for Climatex products.

The second 100-percent post-consumer upholstery collection from Designtex includes Hula-Hoop, Drive-In, and Sock-Hop, which have the added benefit of Nano-tex for durability. These Cradle to Cradle™ Gold patterns are inspired by the famous 50s illustrator, Charlie Harper, to create a sophisticated '50s vibe.

Basket Weaver incorporates ground-breaking technology to create the industry’s first PVC-free, printed polyurethane upholstery. This environmentally conscious alternative to vinyl is 20 percent polyurethane, and the backing is 80 percent recycled polyester. For applications that require high-performance upholstery, Basket Weaver provides high performance with aesthetic appeal.

Three new patterns made entirely from natural fibers, Ebb & Flow, Plain & True, and Pace of Nature explore the simplicity of bamboo, cotton, and hemp, while using environmentally friendly dyes. Each pattern in this grouping is made up of different fiber contents providing a different tactile experience for each.

ECORE™, a grouping of PVC-free wallcoverings consisting of textural patterns mimicking linen, wood grain, and fibrous nonwovens, were created using nano-technology. The collection carries all the performance characteristics of Type II wallcoverings. All of the patterns are 100 percent post-consumer recyclable. Additionally, the construction waste as well as the post-use material can be returned for recycling as part of a reclamation program. This collection is Green Guard Indoor Air Quality Certified for low VOC emissions.