Mattes & Ammann GmbH & Co. KG is one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of fine knit fabrics. Customer focus, quality, reliability, 
social working conditions and an innovative edge get top priority in the company. In addition, the company is setting the standard for sustainable management with an outstanding commitment to environmental protection.
In 1998, the family-run company from Meßstetten-Tieringen in the Swabian Jura, was the second textile firm worldwide to be certified as an environmentally friendly and socially responsible facility complying with the OEKO-TEX Standard 1000. In June last, it won the OEKO-TEX Sustainability Award in the Social Responsibility category, and at the end of July, it was the first German textile company to successfully complete the new OEKO-TEX STeP certification for Sustainable Textile Production.
The products manufactured by Mattes & Ammann have wide applications. The range includes velour seat covers in cars, aeroplanes, ships and all German ICE trains, mattress cover fabrics, flags for numerous international sports events or lining fabrics for wedding gowns as well as hook and loop fasteners for baby nappies.
Managing Director Christoph Larsen-Mattes says: “Our products are used on land, on water and in the air as well as in all areas of life.” With currently 300 employees and a total production area of around 36,000 square metres, Mattes & Ammann annually produces over 56 million square metres of textile fabrics in circular knitting, circular weaving and warp knitting.
The beginnings of the company go back to 1951 when operations started with the production of fabrics in a warp knitting mill. In mid-1960s, the production facilities were expanded to include circular knitting machines with large diameters. The year 1974 saw a complete change to technical textiles made for strategic reasons, and in 1994 the existing company units were supplemented with a circular weaving mill with French circular looms. Production of woven and knit fabrics, which is often carried out according to highly individual customer requirements, is now equipped with state-of-the-art specialised machinery with around 500 models.
Today the company focuses mainly on production of technical knit fabrics for the automotive industry. The company has been 
supplying the products to renowned automotive manufacturers for 30 years. At the same time, it also supplies other fabrics for seat upholstery and seat covers as well as materials used in seat construction.
Another important production area at Mattes & Ammann is woven and knit fabrics for the home textile segment, supplying 100 per cent cotton and mixed fibre mattress cover fabrics for leading manufacturers in Europe, the US and Australia. The company additionally manufactures a wide range of other knit fabrics for industries such as those making lining materials for trade fair stands, flame-retardant fabrics for aircraft construction and interior furnishing of buildings, knit fabrics for chair covers and seats in rail vehicles, functional materials for foundation garments, and antistatic woven linings for clothing or textile materials for food packaging.
Mattes & Ammann remains committed to environmental management and to continuing improvements in all areas of the company. Mr. Christoph Larsen-Mattes says: “As a medium-sized company, sustainability is an essential principle of business management for us. Especially in our fast lived times, we think in the medium and long term as well, focusing on continuity.”
To improve the environmental balance, new measures are developed and implemented within the framework of an in-house 
environmental programme each year. The acquisition of several company-owned oil cleaning devices, for example, allows used needle oils to be processed and reused to a great extent. This permanently reduces costs.
Propylene sleeves coming out of production without yarn residue are ground in an in-house mill and sold to the plastics industry as a high quality raw material for further processing.
Exemplary social and cultural management
The appreciation of employees as a cornerstone of business success is firmly anchored in the company through the certification according to SA 8000 (as the first textile company in Europe) and is being additionally stimulated by an active cultural management since 2000. In addition to fulfilling basic requirements such as performance-based pay, regulated holiday times, workplace safety or exclusion of discrimination, etc., Mattes & Ammann engages its employees in numerous activities such as Christmas parties, company outings, further education courses or sports activities to encourage community spirit and has established a code of conduct for respectfully dealing with one another. Furthermore, the employees are being motivated by premium programmes to actively take part in the company’s success through suggestions for improvements and quality optimisation. All successful achievements are communicated in the annual environmental declaration.