Rökona was honoured with the prestigious German Design Award 2025 in the Excellent Product Design – Material and Surfaces category!

The German Design Award is the premium prize of the German Design Council. With its global scope and international appeal, it is one of the most prestigious awards in the design landscape across all industries. Since 2012, the German Design Award has been identifying key design trends, presenting them to a broad public and honouring them. Extraordinary submissions in product design, communication design and architecture are honoured each year.

With our sustainable textile sense of leather – Afilia®, we were able to convince the jury of our textile.our Afilia® – the sustainable textile sense of leather, combines high-quality design, the advantages of warp knitting technology and the current topic of neo-ecology. Developed for the automotive industry, the article fulfils the highest technical textile standards. The spun-dyed Afilia® saves water in the production process. The special texture of the surface and the handle make the article a high-quality leather alternative, not only in the automotive sector. It offers versatile design options through cut-out techniques, embossing and printing.

Thanks to our dedicated team and we look forward to the award ceremony at the beginning of next year.

Nomination The German Design Awards sets the highest standards for determining its award winners: In a nomination process, expert committees of the German Design Council invite only those products and communication design services to participate in the competition that demonstrably stand out due to their design quality. All awards are determined in a multi-stage judging process and during a two-day jury meeting.

Categories for a Broad Design Spectrum In order to adequately reflect the diversity of our design culture, The German Design Awards are divided into the disciplines “Excellent Product Design”, “Excellent Communications Design” and “Excellent Architecture”. These cover all areas of everyday life. The “Gold” and “Winner” awards are presented in each category.

The Transformative Power of Design Whether digitalization, AI or circular design – The German Design Awards platform reveals the contribution design can make to the sustainable transformation of the economy. Now more than ever, outstanding design can provide answers to the challenges of our time that focus on the impact of products and services on the planet and our society – through multi-perspective approaches, sustainable and circular design processes or resource- and environmentally friendly production. The German Design Awards have set themselves the goal of promoting the diverse transformation tasks of our time through design and providing orientation for others through outstanding examples.

Focus on Circular Design

The additional category “Circular Design” highlights particularly innovative solutions from companies and designers that implement the current objectives of the circular economy and provide inspiring impetus.

Gold The “Gold” award of the German Design Awards is the highest distinction awarded for an excellent, holistic and innovative design achievement. Gold award winners provide groundbreaking and important impulses for entire industries. The internationally renowned jury selects one or a maximum of two “Gold” award winners per category, depending on the quality of the submissions.

Winner The “Winner” award of The German Design Awards recognizes outstanding and exemplary design achievements in the context of a specific category. An appropriate number of design products are honored as “Winners” in each category. These are selected by a separate jury of experts in each category of The German Design Awards.

German Design Council – the Organizer The German Design Council was founded in 1953 by a resolution of the German Bundestag and sponsored by German industry to meet the growing need for information on design in the economy. Since its foundation, the German Design Council has promoted design as a lever for economic success. Today, the foundation is one of the world’s leading competence centers for communication and knowledge transfer in the field of design. With competitions, exhibitions, conferences, consulting services, research and studies, it opens up new horizons for representatives of business and the design discipline, always with the aim of communicating the value contribution of design to corporate success.

Today, over 330 of the most important German companies belong to the German Design Council’s circle of founders.

The German Design Awards 2025 facts

The proportion of international submissions was 48%. In total, products and projects from 59 countries were submitted to the award.

A total of 65 products/projects were awarded “Gold” in the three disciplines in 2025, 39 of them in “Excellent Product Design”, 16 in “Excellent Communications Design” and 12 in “Excellent Architecture”.

Jury

The German Design Awards 2025 jury is made up of 16 nationalities. It is made up of renowned design experts from business, education and science as well as the design industry.

The Jury Members of the German Design Awards 2025:

Martin Pauli, Arup

Daniela Bohlinger, BMW Group Inventionen

Manuel Bickel, Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie

Julie Hjort, Danish Design Centre

Pradyumna Vyas , Confederation of Indian Industry, World Design Organization

Teresa Franqueira, University of Aveiro

Jeff Dayu Shi, Dragonfly Design Center Beijing & Shanghai

Evan Jerry, Studio Anansi

Julia Pültz, Vestre GmbH

Silvia Olp, aed e.V.

Andreas Diefenbach, Phoenix Design GmbH & Co. KG

Konrad Bergström, X Shore, Zound Industries (Marshall Group)

Elke Malek, Hadi Teherani Design GmbH

Bernd Eigenstetter, KISKA

Massimo Frascella, AUDI AG

Christian Zanzotti, ZANZOTTI INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Jeannette Altherr, Altherr Désile Park

Werner Aisslinger, studio aisslinger GmbH & Co KG

Christine Matz, Tatic Designstudio

Patrick Speck, LIXIL Global Design, EMENA

Juliet Kavishe, International Council of Design, Pan African Design Institute

Andrea Macruz

Alain Gilles, Alain Gilles The Studio

Reinhard Pascher, Pascher+Heinz

Ruth Oberrauch, Oberalp Group

Marius Jung, Moncler

Annie Kuschel, LEONHARD KURZ Stiftung & Co. KG

Ansger Eidens, Brand University of Applied Sciences

Jessica Sandoval Mamba Studio

Lukas Cottrell, Peter Schmidt Group GmbH

Linda Stannieder, TMRW Ventures

Jianjun Xie, Dongdao Creative Branding Group

Laurent Lacour hauser lacour Kommunikationsgestaltung GmbH

Hans Meier-Kortwig, gmk Markenberatung

Jens Grefen, Interbrand GmbH

Patricia Reiners, Patricia Reiners

Luzia Hein, Studio Luzia Hein

Ole Heydekamp, Deutsche Telekom AG

Monica Ahanonu, Monica Ahanonu Design

Daniel Knies, deSter GmbH

Roland Bechmann, Werner Sobek

Oanh Nguyen Henriksen, Dorte Mandrup

Siegfried Zhiqiang Wu, Tongji University

Vera Hartmann, Sauerbruch Hutton

Tina Kortmann, UNStudio

Tomek Rygalik, Studio Rygalik

Corinna Kretschmar-Joehnk, JOI-Design Innenarchitekte

Jasmin Jouhar

The MATERIALICA Award is the world’s leading competition in the field of materials, design and technology and is organized as part of eMove360° at Messe München.

It is with great pleasure and pride that we can announce that we won this year in the Material category. This award recognizes Rökona’s outstanding achievements and innovations in the field of material development.

Rökona’s Afilia® textile prevails against tough competition and impressed the jury with its outstanding quality and sustainability.

Rökona’s Afilia® – the sustainable textile sense of leather, combines high-quality design, the advantages of warp knitting technology and the current topic of neo-ecology. Developed for the automotive industry, the article fulfils the highest technical textile standards. The spun-dyed Afilia® saves water in the production process. The special texture of the surface and the handle make the article a high-quality leather alternative, not only in the automotive sector. It offers versatile design options through cut-out techniques, embossing and printing.

Keep your fingers crossed for the award ceremony on the first day of the eMove360° trade fair in Munich on 15th October! We will be presenting our sustainable textile sense of leather AFILIA® at the fair. We look forward to seeing you! (Foyer, Booth F25)

Innovative and sustainable lustre textiles that impress with their elegant sheen and high-quality metallic look – without any metallic components. This means they are 100% pure and recyclable.

The textiles are part of our Re:Space portfolio, which has won several awards for its innovative and sustainable approach, including the German Design Award and the German Innovation Award.

Black Sterling is a double-face textile with a black reverse side and perforated structure. The printable surface in a textured metallic look creates a subtle 3D effect and shimmers in a rich silver colour. Like all textiles in the SHINE collection, Black Sterling is unmixed and 100% recyclable.

Grey Sterling has a high-quality, textured metallic look with a closed chequerboard pattern. This creates a pleasant light silver lustre. The textile is unmixed and recyclable – and it can be printed.

Horizon is a real speciality among shiny textiles. Its block stripe design offers partial protection against transparency and light incidence. The wide stripes create a reflective metallic look, which is interrupted by narrower semi-transparent dark stripes. The surface is printable and the textile is fully recyclable as a single-origin material.

Moon impresses with its even, elegant silver lustre. As with high-quality metal, iridescent reflections and a varied interplay of light and dark, shiny and matt surfaces are created depending on the incidence of light. When exposed to direct light, the front of the material is opaque – the reverse is black and semi-transparent. The textile is unmixed, recyclable and is characterised by its high inherent rigidity. Moon is suitable for both printing and laser cutting.

It was a pleasure to welcome you and present our latest innovations and textiles to you. Your interest and enthusiasm have made this event a success.

We hope that you were inspired by your visit and were able to gain new insights. Your feedback and suggestions are very important to us in order to continuously improve our products and services.

Thank you again for your interest and support.

We look forward to hopefully welcoming you again soon at one of our events.

Your Rökona team

Rökona’s patented cut protection, integrated into the front section of work trousers, sets standards in the field of occupational safety clothing.

Our clear recommendation to manufacturers: Incorporate Contracut in six layers! In this way, you can provide the wearer not only with the highest level of protection but also unmatched comfort and excellent breathability. By choosing the right garment manufacturing techniques and using high-quality outer and lining fabrics, it’s even possible to achieve Cut Protection Class 1 with just five layers of Contracut.

The revolutionary functionality of Contracut is truly impressive: When the saw blade comes into contact with the trousers, special threads are pulled out by the chain. These then get caught in the sprocket. This stops the chainsaw in milliseconds. The bottom layer of the Contracut fabric remains intact, ensuring the forestry worker exits the work situation unharmed.

Sustainable protection for you and the environment: Contracut is 100% polyester and is therefore recyclable and environmentally friendly.

Opt for workplace safety Made in Germany – for security, comfort, and environmental awareness in the workplace!

Get ready for an exciting presentation of our latest textiles, accompanied by inspiring design studies. Immerse yourself with us in the world of innovative applications for our textiles and discover new perspectives.

Our team is ready to give you a personal insight into the versatility of our textiles.

To ensure that we have enough time for a personal meeting, please send us a short message by the end of March. Secure your place for a meeting with our sales team at the following link:

https://www.roekona.de/kontakt/

You will find us in hall 12.1 booth B50.

We look forward to welcoming you at our booth at the end of April and wish you a happy Easter!

We are setting the standard for sustainability and environmental protection in the textiles industry with these values. Our latest certification in accordance with ISO 14001 verifies that we are a reliable partner in relation to the constantly increasing expectations for sustainability in companies.

This environmental management system makes it possible for us to take a preventative approach to environmental issues and to replace or augment expensive technologies with integrated production solutions through careful planning. Our environmental management comprises the planning, control, monitoring and improvement of all operational measures for the protection of the environment and for environmentally-oriented operational and employee management. We make a direct, positive contribution to the global challenge of climate change by minimising the negative environmental effects of our textile production with reduced resources, emissions and waste. Headquartered in Tübingen, a city with a Green government, we are meeting our local responsibility for sustainability with this voluntary contribution.

Further information on the issue of sustainability at Rökona:

Photovoltaics
Power house
“Ort voller Energie” District heating project

– Soft inner layer
– Microfine middle layer filter
– Water-resistant outer layer

Bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE): >99%
Moisture vapor transmission rate (pressure differential): <20.41 PA/cm2
Microbiological purity: ≤10 KBE/g

Our premises in Tübingen conduct full-scale production that requires electricity. A photovoltaic system went into operation there on May 10^th, 2022 to facilitate our entry into generating renewable energy. The system’s peak power is 75 KWp. In comparison, a single-family house with a PV system supplying four persons generates peak power of around 6 KWp. The calculations indicate that with this new system we will eliminate approximately 40,000 kg of CO₂ emissions each year. An expansion of the system is also planned in the upcoming years.
In addition to the development of our Rökona location in Tübingen, this undertaking also contributes to the development of the city of Tübingen and its planned „Lustnauer Ohren“ solar park located nearby.
“Tübingen’s city government and above all Mayor Boris Palmer absolutely want this system, given that Tübingen is aiming to be completely climate-neutral within eight years.  Measures for achieving this include having so many photovoltaic systems in Tübingen that their combined power output is 200 megawatts. Large roofs on company buildings along with land on the sides of busy roads where no buildings can be constructed anyway offer good location opportunities for these types of facilities.”…

“Moving Toward A Large-Scale Solar Park”, Schwäbisches Tagblatt (newspaper), July 12^th, 2022