Sustainability & corporate responsibility

Sustainability and corporate responsibility

Because we care about the environment and people.

Karlowsky Fashion GmbH is a medium-sized family business based in Wanzleben-Börde near Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, which is now in its fifth generation of offering innovative workwear, shoes and accessories for the catering, hotel, medical, care and wellness industries. As an internationally active company, our sphere of influence extends far beyond our location in Wanzleben-Börde. However, it is at our company headquarters just outside Magdeburg that we lay the foundations for a more sustainable future.

For us, this begins as early as the design and development phase of our products, where we take environmentally relevant product requirements into account. Our goal is to continuously improve the sustainability aspect of our products. The long-term goal is to become one of the most sustainable clothing brands in our industries.

Downloads

Sustainability Report 2024 Policy Statement Code of conduct - suppliers/production partners

Certificates

Karlowsky Fashion carrys products that are certified with the Green Button label. The Green Button is a government-run certification label for sustainably manufactured textiles. It sets out mandatory requirements to protect people and the environment in the textile production process.
A total of 46 stringent social and environmental standards must be met. Independent auditors review compliance with the criteria.

Certified by Control Union, CU 1091876

www.g-k.eu/karlowsky

Karlowsky Fashion ist als Unternehmen nach dem Global Recycled Standard (GRS) zertifiziert. GRS ist ein Produktstandard zur Nachverfolgung und Überprüfung des Anteils von recycelten Materialien in einem Endprodukt. Der Standard gilt für die gesamte Lieferkette und befasst sich mit Rückverfolgbarkeit, Umweltprinzipien, sozialen Anforderungen, chemischen Inhalten und der Kennzeichnung von Produkten. Mit der GRS-Zertifizierung möchte Karlowksy Fashion eine Kreislaufwirtschaft unterstützen, die Abfall reduziert, indem sie ihn zur Herstellung neuer
Produkte verwendet. Diese Kriterien werden ständig von unabhängigen akkreditierten Stellen überwacht.

zertifiziert durch Control Union, CU 1091876

GlobalRecycled.org

Karlowsky Fashion is certified as a company according to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). GOTS is recognized as one the world’s leading standard for textiles made from ecologically produced natural fibres. At a high level, it defines environmental requirements along the entire textile production chain and at the same time requires compliance with social criteria. These criteria are constantly monitored by independent accredited bodies.

Certified by Control Union, CU 1091876

Global-Standard.org

ENCEL™ Lyocell fibres are derived from the natural raw material wood and feel naturally soft and supple. They promote a naturally dry feeling through moisture regulation and reduce odour development in a natural way. The fibres are produced in a resource-efficient, closed production process* and are certified with the EU Ecolabel for outstanding environmental friendliness**. (*Savings take into account solvent recovery | **EU Ecolabel for textile products (licence no. AT/016/001)

TENCEL™ is a trademark of Lenzing AG.

www.tencel.com

Product safety

Many of our products are certified according to:

Safety for people and the environment is a fundamental value of Karlowsky Fashion GmbH and has the highest priority. It is precisely for this reason that the textiles go through the globally standardised testing and certification system STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX®. The textiles are verifiably tested for banned substances and substances that are hazardous to health in order to ensure that the products meet all human ecological requirements.

Certified by Hohenstein, S13-0998 HTTI & S22-3027 HTTI

www.oeko-tex.com/standard100

We work together with:

In the accredited German testing laboratory LABTECH Prüfungsgesellschaft mbH, we test our materials and products for washing properties, functionalities and harmful substances in accordance with standardized test procedures. This ensures quality assurance along the entire supply chain.

www.labtech-gmbh.de

Social responsibility

We are members at:

We, Karlowsky Fashion GmbH, are staunch participants of the BSCI (Business Social Compliance Initiative) and have committed ourselves to compliance with the BSCI Code of Conduct. It includes basic requirements for our manufacturing companies in terms of working conditions and social standards.

www.amfori.org

We are members at:

Karlowsky Fashion is an official member of the Alliance for Sustainable Textiles (BNT) – a multi-stakeholder initiative launched by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Together with companies, NGOs, trade unions, and politicians, we are committed to improving textile supply chains in social, ecological, and economic terms.

Our membership commits us to clear measures and transparent reporting. In this way, we make a measurable contribution to the sustainable transformation of the textile industry.

www.textilbuendnis.com/en/

ℹ️ Reporting of complaints and problems

If you as part of our supply chain, be it as a supplier, manufacturer or seamstress, notice a problem regarding labour conditions, payment, environmental standards or other ethical issues, you can contact us at any time. You can also contact us as a legitimate representative of an affected person (e.g. trade union or labour rights organisation) if you have a complaint. Your report will be treated confidentially and you can be assured that we will investigate intensively.

You can contact us: complaints-cr@karlowsky.de