The conversation explores the company’s commitment to pushing boundaries in fabric technology and design, alongside a strong focus on tangible sustainability - highlighting initiatives like closed-loop recycling and chemical-free flame retardancy. It’s an honest and forward-looking discussion about the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of the textiles industry.

Your previous experience includes roles at companies like Gousto and Amazon. How have these experiences shaped your leadership style and approach to operations as CEO of Panaz?

Absolutely, they had a significant impact. Experience working at these businesses and in such a different space gave me a unique insight into not only their operations but their culture and how they propagate that throughout their companies. For me, working in innovative, driven and collaborative companies has cast what I see as my aspirational leadership style and allowed me to continue to evolve the high-performance culture we have at Panaz.

Panaz is known for its innovation in contract fabrics. How do you intend to further enhance technical advancements and design development?

I want to continue excelling in what we do best – creating new, innovative, market leading technology and combining it with beautifully designed fabrics. Innovation takes time, connection with your customers and the pains points they have. We have some exciting new technologies launching soon so watch this space!

When we say innovation at Panaz, we don’t just talk about products either. We are constantly innovating on our service proposition to always have stock there when customers need it – no matter the quantity – and to be able to get it to them within our industry leading timeframes.

As far as design development goes we keep pushing the boundaries using pioneering new yarns to create original looks within commercial fabrics. Our customers want cutting edge, on trend design and choice, lots of choice. And if they can’t find something suitable in our vast range then we have an industry leading custom team creating fully bespoke products on demand.

Sustainability is a growing priority in the textiles industry. Can you share Panaz’s current initiatives in producing environmentally friendly fabrics and any future sustainability goals?

I am a believer in what we refer to as ‘tangible sustainability’, where we have a real impact on the environment and particularly our local environment – you won’t see us buying carbon credits to get to net-zero! We power our factory and printing facility with solar panels, keep bees and plant a tree for every hundred metres of fabric we sell in our local environment.

We have a strong focus on increasing the sustainability of our products so have been pioneering some new technologies within flame retardancy that allow us to reduce or remove chemical usage. We have a number of fabrics that are woven with recycled yarns and the first contract suitable faux leather product made renewable using oils that are a byproduct of the paper making process. The vast majority of our product range is also now PFAS free.

We have also just launched a fabric ‘take-back’ scheme where we take back used polyester and recycle it for use in mattresses. All these steps are on our goal for our products to be able to be used in a closed circular loop. My belief is that man-made fibres such a polyester will become the most sustainable option in a permanent closed loop.

These, in additional to all our other environmental objectives, are maintained and externally monitored using the ISO 14001 controls. We also go through SMETA ethical auditing.

With infection control being more important than ever, how is Panaz integrating antimicrobial technologies to meet modern demands?

Antimicrobials have always been an important component within many of our textiles, particularly within a healthcare setting. That being said, we have seen an increase in demand for this type of technology since COVID. The added protection gives hotels, cruise ships and hospitality environments more piece of mind when it comes to the spread of bacteria and viruses within a space.

Our antimicrobial, shieldplus, is our own proprietary technology that functions in a different way to other standard antimicrobials – not all antimicrobials were created equal! Ours is a non-leaching technology that is permanently attached to the surface of the textile giving much more durability and long-term effectiveness. It’s also water based and more sustainable as it doesn’t come off into the wastewater when laundered. We won a Queen’s Award for Innovation for shieldplus when we launched it originally around 20 years ago and it still leads the market as the most effective technology.

What do you see as the biggest challenges and opportunities for the textiles industry in the coming year?

As far as immediate challenges, our whole industry is facing a significant costs crisis. Recent government legislation around national insurance, minimum wage increases and inheritance tax changes are compounding some of the damage done over the last 5 years for many companies combining with elements such as longer term cost of labour and product cost increases. Many companies will find they cannot run in the same way anymore and their business model must change. Being able to fund growth through all these cost increases will be a challenge or impossible for many which could lead to industry wide stagnation.

From a longer-term perspective, one of the biggest challenges the textile sector faces is how to become more sustainable. The industry is slowly evolving and becoming more conscious but sustainability needs to move away from being a luxury for businesses that can afford it. The textiles industry has a globalised supply chain and, as such, is hard to manage when it comes to traceability. Many textiles companies need to get more mindful when it comes to real environmental impact.