You can innovate while respecting the environment. But you can also make the environment the very heart of innovation: not a vague inspiration, but the raison d'être of investment and creative development. AMF was already aware of this difference, which only today is beginning to be a common heritage in the Fashion Industry – and has always chosen the second option, making it its Vision. Environmental sustainability is the only option today. AMF has been growing and building virtuous partnerships on this value since 1996.
How can you prove it? AMF has drawn up its Sustainability Report, thanks to which the efforts made and the continuous commitment are finally measurable.
SUPPLY CHAIN AND RESPONSIBILITY
What is the innovative sustainability supply chain? The one that begins with the total and rigorous control of each phase of the production process and acquires even greater meaning and value by inspiring virtuous individual and collective behavior, in strategic choices as well as in daily life in the company. The transparency and broad scope of the open spaces in our headquarters are the best metaphor for an attitude shared by the entire AMF team, in Italy and around the world. A metaphor that becomes reality thanks to automated electroplating Bluecoating and our innovative sustainable coating system – and much, much more.
WE REUSE RESOURCES
We cannot produce natural resources. But we can invent ways to use them better. That is why we optimise the consumption of energy, raw materials, air and water.
We favor ecological energy sources and invest in the energy efficiency of both our machinery and our plants. We start by eliminating waste by studying production cycles that allow us to reduce waste and when this is not possible we always have our raw materials recycled through certified partners. We minimize all emissions into the atmosphere by using absolute filtering and purification systems that exceed the most stringent legal limits.
In 2024, AMF coordinated the transition to renewable energy at each of the group's locations through its ESG team.
WE AUTOMATE PROCESSES
There are things that robots will never be able to do. For everything else there are them. We want the contribution of those who work in AMF to be in the phases with the highest added value. We also believe that the most effective personal protective equipment is distance. The automated process is the safest process.
This is why we have created, for example, Bluecoating, a fully automated electroplating system, where people never come into contact with phases that are harmful to health. We use automated warehouses to improve efficiency and reduce accidents. And thanks to unmanned work systems with remote control, our workshop works 24 hours a day, even on weekends, without any intervention or risk.
WE CHOOSE SAFE CHEMICALS
We have two very good reasons to eliminate toxic materials: the planet and its inhabitants.
We identify the substances to be eliminated. Let's find alternatives to eliminate them. We test everything. And then we retest everything.
We have drawn up a list of hazardous substances within AMF that we regularly update according to the latest scientific research, technology and international regulations. This list contains two values: a current value and an objective value and is becoming the key tool for many international brands to stay on top of the matter.
We carry out internal research and development projects, with suppliers and with research organizations to achieve these goals. And when we achieve them, we set ourselves more difficult goals.
AMF Lab is the only laboratory – accredited ISO 17025 – whose primary objective is not to perform analyses, but to support brands to achieve the ambitious milestones in the climb of sustainable fashion. To achieve the goal, fashion cannot give up aesthetics and the R&D department intervenes right here, providing its expertise both for A.M.F. accessories and for any other material supplied by the customer, from fabric to leather.
WE PRODUCE INCREASINGLY DURABLE ITEMS
If a product lasts longer, fewer raw materials will be used to build new ones.
Every day we work to produce superior quality items that stand the test of time. We have created a laboratory to simulate the behavior of our products in the conditions in which they will be used. We do tests according to international standards of mechanical tightness/resistance, wear, domestic and dry washing, moist heat, salt water corrosion, "China" test (resistance to corrosive gases), and many others. This is because we believe that selling few products, but selling quality ones, is one of the values on which a sustainable company must be based.
WE ARE TRANSPARENT
We want your eyes to evaluate our contribution to the Planet. For this reason, our productions are transparent. AMF has obtained ISO 9001 certification and environmental certification. We regularly host customers and environmental protection organizations to visit our factories. Our new electroplating plant has glass walls. This is because we want everyone to be able to see how we treat our customers' products and our environment.
Thanks to the Sustainability Report, everything will now be comparable, raising the benchmark of the sector.
A VIRTUOUS EXAMPLE: SUSTAINABLE ELECTROPLATING
Bluecoating is the first sustainable electroplating in the B2B Fashion Industry, the most concrete example of how AMF understands its vision. This is why it is precisely the processes that are traditionally more harmful and dangerous for people and the environment that become, with Bluecoating, the decisive step in the paradigm shift: a huge saving of water (reduced by 95% compared to that of a traditional plant, thanks to the wastewater recycling system through which 200,000 liters of drinking water are saved per day) and absolutely safe emissions, processes entrusted to machines to protect operators with the most effective system, in its apparent obviousness: distance.
A VIRTUOUS EXAMPLE: SUSTAINABLE PAINTING
In line with its development plan, imagined and put into practice starting from the idea of sustainability as a vehicle for innovation, AMF has equipped itself with a state-of-the-art painting plant: an extremely high-performance afterburner allows solvents to be cancelled out through thermal oxidation, decomposing them into carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapour (H2O) and radically reducing their polluting impact. In this way, the air is released into the clean environment and the highest quality of the paint goes hand in hand with a genuine respect for the environment and people.