The van Puijenbroek family has a long history in the Dutch textile industry. The foundation was laid by Hendrik van Puijenbroek, who founded the textile factory H. van Puijenbroek in 1865. Today, the family business still has a strong market position in the sector with sustainable workwear under the name HAVEP. The textile sector is growing, but unfortunately the negative ecological and social effects are still large, especially in terms of CO2 emissions, water consumption and pollution. On the other hand, the textile sector employs 60 to 75 million people worldwide. So there is a lot of potential to make progress in the lives of many people if the textile industry would become more sustainable.
We observe these trends in the textile sector:
- Scarcity and price increase for cotton due to climate change
- Emergence of circular business models
- Transparency and traceability are becoming more important
- Emergence of innovative raw materials and technologies
- More attention to reducing harmful chemicals and water use during production
