Miko’s Benedetta Terraneo delves into the topic of purity within design
Achieving purity is the zenith for designers: purity of concept, purity of form, purity of materials. It is the latter that producers of the innovative eco-suede Dinamica by Miko is striving for with a whole new range of products. Pure is the name of the new recycled non-woven line for car interiors for seating, pillar and headline applications. The first projects will come in 2022 and other will follow proving that many OEMs are ready to switch to a more sustainable quality.
Significantly upping the recycled content when compared to previous products of the current Auto Line, the Pure Line forms part of an all-encompassing environmental strategy by Miko, that focuses on sustainability on many different levels: from cleaner materials to caretaking of forests.
The new Dinamica line is underpinned by the circular economy method, which limits the use of virgin raw materials in favour of secondary raw materials. Go beyond the method and you will find hard data to back up the commitment to the environment. The product is three-layered: a fully-recycled top layer, a mesh that has moved from virgin materials to 100% recycled, and a bottom layer that is 10% recycled. Pure retains the sophisticated aesthetic and performance that has defined Miko’s earlier product lines, but now comprises more recycled PET, up from 150g to 242g of the total weight and CO2 emissions are down from 5.9kg/sqm to 5.7kg/sqm.
When compared to the Dinamica Auto range, the numbers are striking. In seat applications, the amount of recycled polyester has jumped from 45% to 73%. For Auto Stretch versus Pure Stretch, the headliner and pillar application, it is a similar story with 38% to 57%. But there is a more straightforward way of framing it. As Miko puts it, the same product but simply better.
Dinamica Pure, and by extension Miko, is attuned to wider social trends. Greater concern among the general population for the carbon footprint of consumer products is in the ascendancy, and naturally this extends to cars. As Miko puts it: “Pure is more than a challenge. It is our promise. Increasing the recycled content of our automotive product line and going pure is our responsibility to the social and natural crisis we are witnessing nowadays.”
The ultimate aim for Miko is to realise its commitment to becoming climate positive by 2030. Centre to the strategy is caretaking of forests. Most prominent of these campaigns is the company’s support for FSC®-certified Bosco Sacile – a project to restore and preserve one of the last great national forests of the Friuli plain (Italy). In partnership with Etifor, the University of Padua’s initiative that supports companies to enhance the products and caretaking of nature, Miko will be supporting the maintenance of public paths, forestry and the planting of 5000 new trees. In addition, Miko will start similar projects also in Germany, Vietnam and the United States of America.
Marketing Director Benedetta Terraneo says: “We first measured our environmental performance using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technology, reduced it and then focused on capturing residual impacts. Taking up the challenge of climate, we take our place among the actors of change towards sustainable development; technology, innovation and pioneering attitude are the ingredients we use.”
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