A BIT OF COMMON SENSE FROM DALSTORP

 

Today, it is a given hygiene factor to take responsibility for your organization and the impact it and its activities has on the surrounding world. Götessons has throughout the years worked with sustainability in mind – without really thinking about it. For us, it was common sense. When it first took off, in the 80s, 90s and00s, the focus was on maintaining a high quality and construction, for the products to last for a long time. Little did we know back then, that such qualities today are important from a sustainability perspective. In order to maintain a high product quality, Götessons always had the approach to work long-term and close with our suppliers. For us, it was common sense. Even today, we have many suppliers who have been involved from the very beginning. Good and long-term relationships with suppliers are for us a way to take responsibility for our value chains.

High product quality, long-term supplier collaborations and our business concept with a pleasant, ergonomic and creative workplace, have made the common sense from Dalstorp the foundation for us to be proud of our products and business today.

WORKING WITH SUSTAINABILITY AT GÖTESSONS

At Götessons, we work with sustainable development in two focus areas: one area concerning the products design and content, and the other area focuses on usage, function and production. Our most important sustainability questions include material selection, responsible supply chains, circular economy, product development and working environment.

A SUSTAINABLE WORKING DAY FOR EVERYONE  

A sustainable working day for everyone – for the ones who uses our products, for the people in our supply chains, and for our own employees. This focus area includes developing products that contribute to increased user well-being, ensuring ethical and responsible supply chains with respect for human rights, and maintaining a high level of well-being for our employees together with a good working environment. This area is the core of our business and why we exist as a company – to contribute to a more sustainable working day.

SUSTAINABLE FURNITURE AND HUMAN DESIGN

In this area, we focus on the product itself. This regards material selection, design and components, where everything must be well thought out, controlled and executed according to relevant sustainability criteria. High product quality, safety and testing, smart design, no hazardous substances and sustainable material choices – that is important to us.

USING OUR PRODUCTS

Our products and their function are the core of our business. Götessons have many years of experience on how to create indoor environments where people thrive. People spends more and more of their time indoors. We live, eat, sleep, work and socialize. There is a lot to think of for the indoor environment to be healthy, and we at Götessons also think that the interior and environment should be pleasant. There are many factors of healthy buildings that are not built in, but furnished there.

It is important that our products are both safe and healthy. The products are tested according to relevant standards for the different categories of furniture and interior design. We perform tests for risk of overturning, surfaces, fire and sound. The products must be sustainable and meet the customer’s requirements as well as follow the market’s developed demands. We place emphasis on ergonomics and maximizing the usage at the same time as the product creates a better working environment.

Interested in how to decorate indoors for a sustainable working day? Read more here.

SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAINS

Today, it is no longer enough for organizations to have good control over their own, internal processes. Increasing focus is being placed on the supply chain upstream, and rightly so. It is very common for companies today that it is in the supply chain where the dominant part of both the environmental impact and dangerous working moments take place. Having control over and taking responsibility for your supply chains is not always the easiest thing to do. But, just because it is sometimes difficult does not mean that you should not do it.

For Götessons, long and tight supplier collaborations have been an important thing since the company started. Quality, decent working conditions have always got to cost a bit more rather than making the cheapest alternative.  We conduct regular supplier visits and, where applicable, third-party audits. Collaborating with suppliers and including them in our work for a sustainable development provides mutual benefits and creates win-win situations for both parties.

A SUSTAINABLE WORKING DAY WITH US

Our employees are Götessons most important resource. Well-being, equality and personal development are and have always been top priority for our company. We value employees’ commitment and initiatives for continuous improvement, including a good work-life balance. We have a well-being group that organizes monthly activities for everyone, and includes employees in several forums linked to working environment and health.

Götessons stands for equal rights for all people. Our workplace is characterized by equal treatment and inclusion. We offer the same opportunities regardless of gender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, age or form of employment.

SYSTEM FOR WHISTLEBLOWING

Because we value our employee’s well-being very high here at Götessons, we have a system for whistleblowing where people are allowed to report suspicions of misconduct within the business. If you want to know more about the system, click here. 

If you want to report something, click here.  

THE GIANTS – MATERIALS AND MANUFACTURING

It may sound like a cliché that the biggest challenges also mean the biggest opportunities – but in our case it is true. Materials, components and manufacturing are the areas where we face the greatest challenges regarding our environmental impact. Raw materials for our products, together with the production method, is important since the largest part of environmental impact from furniture manufacturing – not transport, for example.

We want to work even more with recycled materials, so that we avoid using the planet’s resources unnecessarily. It is important to use more sustainable materials and fewer components, with little amount of chemicals. Götessons already does some good things that you can see in our product range. The Office Ballz Medley has a textile cover made of production waste from various fabrics. EcoSUND, or sound absorbent, consists only of PET where 50 % is post consumer-recycled, and the entire product is recyclable. In the textile range, we offer several fabrics that are post-consumer recycled and labelled with OEKO-TEX and EU EcoLabel.

CREDIBILITY AND CERTIFICATIONS

We strongly believe in working with proven and credible method. That is why have have products that are certified according to both Möbelfakta and the Nordic Swan Ecolabel. Möbelfakta put demands on quality, environmental requirements for components and finished product, as well as social responsibility for the entire supply chain. The Nordic Swan Ecolabel puts high environmental demands for the piece of furniture. Read further about certified products on our product pages.

In order to compare products within our own range from an environmental perspective, we have developed our own label A better choice of product. We have set up 8 parameters where the product must be approved for at least 5 of them, for us to recommend it at a better choice. Read more about A better choice here .

CERTIFICATIONS AT GOTESSONS:

ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, NORDIC SWAN, ELKRETSEN, FTI, MÖBELFAKTA

LINEAR (TODAY) – CIRCULAR (TOMORROW)

Our world has a wear and tear mania. Even if office furniture and interior is not replaced in the same rate as home furniture, it occurs in public spaces and the furniture is often used for a far shorter time than its actual lifespan. A great part of our work therefore consists of developing and finding new strategies for how our products should be used for a longer time period before being replaced.

Our furniture must live a long life. Long lifetime is a great way to reduce environmental impact. Making relevant material choices is therefore important – it goes hand in hand with high product quality. Furniture should have as few different constituent material types as possible to enable reusing and recycling. High quality products do not break. Materials are also about trends and fashion. Producing furniture that are trendy and contribute to a creative indoor environment must also be combined with not throwing it out after the increasingly shorter trend cycle pass.

This is why Götessons have developed LOOP – our take-back system where we bring in old furniture and re-upholster them, to sell them again. Read more about LOOP here. 

 

 

Gotessons should be the industry’s most attractive company to work for and with – that is the company’s vision. Working sustainably isn’t only profitable for us. With great material choice, more effective transport and highly placed demands, we are pulling our weight towards creating a better planet for everyone where we create more with less resources. We’ve also seen that this way of working also entails many economical benefits that benefit the whole chain.

 

 


DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT GOTESSONS’ SUSTAINABILITY WORK?

Contact us!

Mia Marecek, Sustainability developer 
Stellan Bygård, ESG Manager

Emilia AnderöHSEQ Coordinator

Götessons Industri AB, Rönnåsgatan 5B, 523 38 ULRICEHAMN, SWEDEN
Phone: +46 (0)321-68 77 00, Fax: +46 (0)321-68 77 90, info@gotessons.se, www.gotessons.com