Supplier speaking; Richard Leliveld
This is Richard Leliveld speaking. Working in furniture upholstery since 2000 and owner of OniroTextiles since January 2011. This is where the most beautiful furniture fabrics come from, which have been used for years in the mobility products of Life & Mobility.
About Oniro
“Oniro is located in Nieuwegein. Here we have a 650 m2 warehouse as well as a 250 m2 office and showroom. Here we sell our own fabric collections, but also the woven fabrics from the Danish Gabriel collection. This collection we sell exclusively in the Benelux market. Our own collection iis mainly sold in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Scandinavia. We work in Nieuwegein with 8 colleagues, who enjoy working for our customers every day.”
Years of cooperation
“The cooperation with Life & Mobility goes back many years. We came in as a supplier of a PVC artificial leather. Meanwhile, we also supply two furniture fabrics from the Gabriel collection.”
Searching the perfect fabric
“During the development of the Newton, we went searching together for the ideal furniture fabrics, in which quality and durability were leading. Not an easy search, because at Life & Mobility there is always a field of tension between, on the one hand, the extremely high requirements around durability and, on the other hand, the visual aspect.
A furniture fabric must still look good after ten years and not be worn to the bone. In addition, the fabrics must be easy to care for and easy on the ergonomic shapes of seat and back.
On top of that, we all want to find a sustainable result. Therefore, we only choose 100% polyester fabrics that can be easily recycled after their lifetime. We implement this process step by step. Sustainability always goes in steps, each time you make a step to eventually produce 100% circular products.”
Oniro and CSR
“Despite being a trading company, CSR is very important to us. A code of conduct has been signed with all suppliers. In all cases we have visited the production sites and were able to see and experience with our own eyes how people work here. We also have the necessary sustainability labels, which show that we take CSR very seriously. We are also currently developing artificial leather with bio-based materials.”
CSR is done together!
“Together with Life & Mobility, we are looking for the perfect solution for recycling used materials. Developments in this area are fast. So opportunities for improvement are always on the agenda, in every meeting. It’s nice to see that we both feel strongly commited about sustainability. That is important, because we face many challenges. It is not easy to produce high-quality medical devices with many requirements and specifications in combination with sustainability. After all, sustainability must not come at the expense of quality.”