www.warema.de/brichbag
Somewhere in Germany Meanwhile at WAREMA in Marktheidenfeld We are on the move when it comes to sustainability. We are at our site in Marktheidenfeld and today we are in the textile manufacturing department. This is where vast quantities of fabrics are made up. And the whole thing
Is highly automated – but also involves a lot of manual labour. I’m really looking forward to what awaits us here. Welcome Armin! Here we are in textile manufacturing. At WAREMA, we always manufacture to order from a quantity of 1, which means that when the customer orders something, it is unique.
Be it in the design that they would like for their patio awning or in the dimensions. The product that we manufacture here is therefore only available once in this version. We use very high-quality materials here. This begs the question: Surely there’s something left over here, isn’t there?
We receive the materials in a kind of original mould. What happens to the offcuts? In the first step, we cut the individual panels that we need for the patio awning to make them up. I’d like to show what that looks like and how it works.
Great, let’s have a look. Then come with me. What happens to the leftovers? Unfortunately, we can’t process the leftovers any further. But luckily we’ve found a someone who will take some of the leftovers off our hands. This is the company manomama. They have received
Around 20 tonnes of leftover material from us over the last few years. My fabrics have now taken me to Augsburg. I’m here at manomama and Sina Trinkwalder is sitting next to me. Sina, hello, it’s wonderful
To meet you here. Perhaps you could tell us what manomama is all about? Yes, manomama originally started 13 years ago with the idea of a social textile business where I give people the opportunity to to earn their own money that nobody else wanted.
For example, because they have a migration background, are a single parent with a child and so on. There are many reasons. And in the meantime, we are increasingly focussing on the industrial up-cycling of the raw materials that other industries – like yours – leave us.
I brought this bag with me that was made from a sun protection material and what advantages does that offer for this bag? Well, I think the biggest advantage, if we are completely honest, is that we are massively protecting the environment. Because what would otherwise end up as waste
Is replaced and turned back into something beautiful. And nothing new has to be made. Because everyone needs a rucksack and I have the option of using new materials with what’s already there. The great thing about this material, as with awnings, is that it is weather-resistant, waterproof
And dirt-repellent – designed to last forever. Your awnings will last 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 – I don’t know how many years. And that’s how long this rucksack should last. But there is also a, shall we say, social idea behind it. Can you tell us more?
Yes, that was the initial spark! And I was at the train station in Augsburg and was on my way to Essen for some event. I can’t remember what exactly. And that’s when I met Gottfried, a homeless man. And interestingly enough, I’ve had more
Encounters with homeless people in my life that have always made me think. And this person apologised for looking like a bum – he wasn’t actually one. And because he was carrying plastic bags, it was really dirty and rancid. The moment he said
He wasn’t a bum and only looked like one because of the bag, it really went “pling” for me. And I thought, wait a minute, we make rucksacks for homeless people. So that they look like they’re travelling through society. And I already know
What material I’m going to use. We have enough of that. And that’s how BRICHBAG was born. I simply believe that we are sitting here together like the two of us. You’re sitting there for WAREMA, I’m sitting there for manomama – together we created BRICHBAG, where we’re actually just
Helping nature, helping the environment, helping people. Something was created because we wanted to work together. And I think if you really mean it and really want to make a lasting change, then it’s exhausting, we both know that, but it’s worth it. For everyone.