WIRTEX
The Wirtschaftsverband Textil Service e. V. , WIRTEX for short , was founded in 2013 as a trade association and is an association of industrially managed textile service companies in Germany. As a federal association , WIRTEX only has direct members. In terms of sales, WIRTEX represents over half of the approximately 3.5 billion sales of the German textile service market. As a member of the European umbrella organization ETSA (European Textile Services Association), WIRTEX is actively involved in European lobbying. The association's office is in Frankfurt am Main .
Association
According to its own information, WIRTEX represents over 50% of the industry in the fields of work clothing, personal protective equipment, hotel, restaurant and catering textiles, hospital and nursing laundry as well as washroom hygiene, dirt control mats, cleaning cloths and safety articles.
Ordinary members
- ALSCO
- Bar shower
- Berendsen plc
- BIM
- CWS-boco International
- DBL
- the linen
- Initial textile service
- Lindstrom
- MEWA textile management
In addition, over 70 suppliers and institutions in the industry from Germany and abroad are included as supporting members of WIRTEX.
aims
According to the statutes, it is the association's task to promote and represent common economic and ideal interests. As a business association, WIRTEX wants to help ensure that Germany remains internationally competitive with a modern labor and social policy. The general conditions for the industry with regard to economic and tax policy as well as environmental and transport policy are to be maintained and improved. He sees lobbying in politics and administration and active participation in legislation, research and standardization as indispensable. The tasks also include promoting and maintaining fairness in competition. Only through fair competition in open markets can growth be achieved and general prosperity increased.
organization
The Board of Directors coordinates the association's work, sets the guidelines for action and the priorities in the topics. It represents the WIRTEX members, is internally responsible for balancing interests and represents the association's interests externally. Thomas Neyers and Detlef Kröpelin belong to the executive committee, as well as Reiner Heinrichs as treasurer.
Services and products
The core of the services of the companies organized in WIRTEX are leasing and the professional processing of textiles for companies. Textile service companies offer advice, equipment, care and logistics for the commercial use of work and protective clothing and textiles.
Customer segments
- Workwear for craft, industry and services, business wear
- Personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Hotel and catering textiles
- Hospital, home and operating room textiles, residents' laundry
- Cleanroom textiles
- Machine cleaning cloths
- Dirt control mats and mop covers
- Washroom hygiene and towel rolls
All segments together add up to total sales of EUR 3.497 billion in 2017 (+ 3.2% compared to the previous year). The largest share comes from the workwear segment including personal protective equipment (61.42%); followed by the hotel, restaurant and hospitality segments (8.92%), health and social services (5.92%) and other segments (28.37%). The number of wearers of work clothing that members of the association provide and care for exceeded the four million mark for the first time in 2017; exactly 4,008,981 people were supplied by WIRTEX member companies (+1.52% compared to the previous year).
Industry meeting
The annual WIRTEX industry meeting is the largest European specialist congress and a platform for exchange, information and networking in textile service. The event should not only strengthen and expand the network among the members, but also that of the industry partners. In addition to the members organized in the association, the suppliers and institutions of the industry from Germany and abroad are represented at the industry meeting in order to exchange ideas intensively and along the supply chain and to present current developments. As part of the industry meeting, there is also an award for the apprentices from the association who have completed their training with distinction. The textile service 2017 industry meeting took place on September 28 and 29, 2017 in Kassel with a record attendance. Over 300 participants were able to experience different perspectives on customer expectations as well as current social and economic trends in 14 lectures. It was a special honor for the association that the acting Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Brigitte Zypries accepted the invitation as a guest of honor.
sustainability
WIRTEX has signed the UN Global Compact as a sign of the association and its members' commitment to global sustainability . On August 10, 2015, WIRTEX announced that it would join the Alliance for Sustainable Textiles . In addition, WIRTEX has joined forces with the German Textile Cleaning Association (DTV) to form the "Sustainability Alliance Textile Service".
literature
Studies and publications
WIRTEX regularly publishes articles in specialist magazines in the industry and publishes the latest study results. The association works u. a. together with the Security & Safety Engineering department at Furtwangen University , Hohenstein Institute and wfk - Cleaning Technology Research Institute. WIRTEX also publishes the textile service industry compendium. The WIRTEX industry compendium provides annual information on developments in the industry based on the latest market data. The data include sales figures, cost factors and developments from the member companies and for the German market as a whole. Analyzes, perspectives and trends from experts from the association and industry and from the general economic environment supplement this data. Other articles report on special product areas and market segments in which Textile Service is primarily involved. Technical and standardization issues are also taken into account, as are marketing aspects and questions of corporate social responsibility.
- selection
- Association initiative saves companies millions, WRP 01/2018 ( page no longer available )
- The leasing suit conquers the office, Handelsblatt 08/2017
- Drying hands with fabric: effective protection against infection, information service housekeeping 01/2017 ( page no longer available )