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Kom van die bank af | Groundbreaking stories from the Dutch furniture industry in transition

Seven Dutch furniture companies (Arco, CS Rugs, Gelderland, Label van den Berg, Lande Family, Leolux and Montis) join forces with industry association CBM and the Dutch Design Week to make our living environment more sustainable. They present a series of portraits of industry groundbreakers, called ‘Kom van die bank af’ (literally: ‘Get off that couch’, a Dutch saying for ‘get a move on’). The first portrait, ‘Stof tot nadenken uit Enschede Textielstad’ (‘Food for thought from Enschede Textielstad’), revolves around Annemieke Koster. Her ambition: to make Enschede a world player in circular industrial textiles. In 11 years of passionate entrepreneurship, Annemieke's initiative, Enschede Textielstad, has grown into the most sustainable scalable textile producer in the Netherlands, making high-quality woven fabrics from recycled materials (pre-used cotton, denim, wool, tencel, hemp and flax). Initiatives like Enschede Textielstad are exactly what the Dutch furniture industry needs on its way to a circular chain. With this portrait, the collective puts the spotlight on this groundbreaker, to make its message of sustainability and transparency resonate industry- and worldwide.