disana Production | Eco-friendly textiles produced in Germany

MADE BY US - a glimpse into our production

We make it ourselves - from the yarn spool to the finished product.

A look behind the scenes at disana.

Like many company stories, ours also began in a garage. With two young people's idea to produce non-toxic children's clothing.

We moved out of the garage long ago and now have modern, bright production facilities. But we still manufacture all disana textiles in-house, from the thin thread to the finished product. This is a real novelty in the textile industry, where a product often travels thousands of kilometers during its manufacture.

At our company, the next step in the process is usually just a desk away. This allows us to significantly shorten the distance our disana clothing travels during production and avoid long transport routes—thereby saving hundreds of tons of CO₂ emissions.

Radmila, Production

Rafa, Quality Control

Thomas, Warehouse

With our own production, we secure more than 80 jobs locally. Whether in developing our disana textiles, in manufacturing, shipping, or sales - everywhere, people bring their expertise and passion to make sure our disana products become real favorites for parents and children. We also train apprentices in several professions, because we’re convinced that well-trained specialists have a future in the textile industry. Having our own production also means we can make sure sustainability is more than just a buzzword for us. With short distances from our sewing tables to our customers’ wardrobes. By using 100% renewable energy to run our machines. Through our projects to recycle wool leftovers from production. And through careful planning that avoids overproduction and large amounts of textile waste. It’s lots of small steps that add up - making our work at disana sustainable, meaningful, and - quite literally - valuable.

The heart of it: where we knit our fabrics

The heart of our production is our own knitting mill. On more than 40 machines, fine yarns are turned into the fabrics that give disana products their distinctive character. This is where large fabric panels are made, which are later turned into fulled wool fabrics, as well as pre-shaped leg parts for leggings, or fabrics with delicate openwork patterns for our baby blankets. Our knitting technicians develop these materials with a great deal of know-how and experienc - and make sure that new, high-quality fabrics are created again and again, inspiring both us and our customers. Many of the smaller details, like cuffs, ties, straps, and collars, are also made right here in our knitting mill - perfectly tailored to our disana products.

The Fulling Process

About half of the fabrics produced in our knitting mill are then fulled. The term “fulling” comes from Old Norse and basically means something like pounding or pressing - pretty much exactly what happens in the process, where the knitted fabrics are compacted and slightly felted.By combining hot water with mechanical movement, our wool fabrics are worked again and again until they become a dense loden that’s almost wind- and water-resistant. The fact that our fulled fabric still ends up wonderfully soft and cozy is the result of many years of experience - and remains our well-kept secret.We leave the fulling to specialists at a laundry just a few kilometers away. Christian, Sebastian, and their well-coordinated team use their expertise and a delicate touch to make sure our wool fabrics keep their special quality. Every color, every production batch - even changes in the weather - can affect the fulling process. We don’t believe that the alignment of Venus and Jupiter has to be just right, or that there can’t be any mirrors or black cats nearby - that’s just a myth. But sometimes the two of them do mumble things that sound like magical incantations for our wool fabrics.

Cutting

After fulling, after washing and drying - and sometimes straight from the knitting machin - our fabrics are rolled up and moved into the fabric warehouse, and from there to the cutting department. Here, they are shaped with the help of modern technology into the forms that will later become a disana product. First, the fabric is unrolled and cut to a defined length in multiple layers - often stacked 20 to 30 layers high. This creates precisely prepared stacks of fabric. From these, an automatic cutting machine cuts out the individual pieces according to a predefined cutting pattern, ready to be further processed in the sewing department.

Optimize Material Usage

Alongside high precision and accuracy in the cut pieces, a key focus in the cutting process is making the most efficient use of materials. The goal is to minimize fabric waste as much as possible, because every roll of fabric contains valuable raw materials and a great deal of craftsmanship. As a guideline, we aim for at least 80% material utilization - though in practice, we often achieve significantly more. The key to this is an optimally planned cutting layout, meaning the way the fabric layers are arranged before cutting.Our pattern maker Karin uses her experience and attention to detail to fit the individual pattern pieces together like a large puzzle. And you’ll often catch a smile on her face when she manages to improve the computer’s layout by another 1–2% less waste. Any remaining fabric is put to good use as well: larger pieces are offered in our shop as patches for repairing disana products. Smaller scraps are cut into shapes like flowers or hearts and passed on for crafting and creative projects. Most of it, however, goes into our upcycling project for wool felt - used to create the felt materials for items in our disana “Home & Living” range.

The Sewing Department

Many companies highlight their good relationships with sewing facilities in Eastern Europe or even Asia, and emphasize how often they visit - and inspect - them. In our case, the sewing department is just one door away from cutting and knitting - right next door. Short distances and close collaboration between departments allow us to ensure especially careful and efficient production. Not to mention the CO₂ savings.

In our sewing department, finished disana products are made on more than 50 sewing machines. This is where pieces are sewn, finished, reinforced, and where ties, buttons, and many other details are added - with great precision and craftsmanship. Currently, around 30 men and women work here on sewing our disana products. More than a dozen languages are spoken in our sewing department, and just as many nationalities come together. What they all share, however, is that they are specialists in their field, with a deep understanding of the quality of the products they make. To preserve this knowledge and skill for the long term, we train young professionals. In our sewing department, trainee garment sewers and tailors learn their craft from the ground up. This means a lot of extra work for Yvonne, our sewing department manager and trainer. But it’s an investment in our future - and in the future of the entire industry. Many of our apprentices go on to find positions at both large and small fashion companies after their time at disana.

Quality Control

No product leaves our company without first being carefully checked by Rafa and her team in quality control. And Rafa is strict when it comes to quality standards. Nothing is left to chance: seams, fit, workmanship, and details like labels or trims are all thoroughly inspected. This is how she and her team ensure that only perfectly made products leave our premises. A key part of our quality assurance is also full traceability. Using a special code on the hangtag, each item can be clearly identified.This means that even years later, we can trace when and by whom a product was made, which batch of wool the yarn came from, and which farms supplied the wool used. Transparency that builds trust. For us, an essential part of sustainable and responsible production.