Our Sustainability Commitment
Sustainability at Wolf-Gordon: Meeting the Challenge
Wolf-Gordon integrates our sustainability goals into all aspects of our product development and operations. We are guided by the holistic approach to sustainability presented by the Common Materials Framework and the AIA Materials Pledge, and work closely with our partner mills to improve our products and practices along the axes of wellness and sustainability.
Aspects of the Common Materials Framework
Following are some specific actions we’ve taken to improve our products and operations and to offer more options to our green building specifiers.
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Eliminating Hazardous Substances While Maintaining High Performance
- Wolf-Gordon has been acquiring Health Product Declarations (HPDs) for our products for over a decade. We now have HPDs for the vast majority of our Type II wallcoverings and all of our RAMPART wall protection, GATHER® Acoustical, and Scuffmaster® paint products.
- All of our Type II wallcoverings, RAMPART, acoustical, cork, wood, and paint products meet the CDPH Standard Method for VOC Emissions (CA 01350) and are listed in the Mindful Materials Library.
- Almost 40% of our products meet Practice Greenhealth’s Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI) goals. As we encourage our partner mills to transition away from using PFAS in their stain-resistant finishes, this number is set to rise to at least 70%.
- 98% percent of our upholstery textiles are free of flame retardants; soon, 100% will be FR-free.
- Our GATHER Acoustical materials and several of our woven upholstery textiles comply with the global Oeko-Tex® Standard 100, ensuring they are free of harmful substances.
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Ensuring Human Rights in the Supply Chain
- 100% of our Type II wallcovering and wall protection products are manufactured in America.
- Wolf-Gordon’s Supplier Questionnaire, completed by every supplier, goes into detail on minimum working ages, wage and hour labor laws, discrimination in hiring, and environmental health and safety policies. We do not do business with non-compliant suppliers.
- We secure additional letters from suppliers of products manufactured abroad attesting to their monitoring of these issues.
- All our products are 100% free of conflict minerals.
- For three decades, Wolf-Gordon has been the largest contributor to Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA), having donated well over $2 million thanks to our Gift of Hope® Program.
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Preserving Clean Air, Water, and Biological Cycles
- Our Cork wallcovering and upholstery and Wood Veneer wallcoverings are made of renewable materials sourced from responsibly managed forests.
- We offer wallcoverings made of low-impact renewable resources such as grasses, paper, wool, linen, and silk.
- The overwhelming majority of our Type II wallcoverings and RAMPART® wall protection are printed with low-VOC, waterbased inks. In the manufacturing process, this provides minimal emissions to the local environment. Inks are recycled in a closed-loop system, and the water utilized in the process is treated on-site to ensure it is below local effluent discharge limits.
- Along with our partner mills, Wolf-Gordon earns multiple NSF/ANSI 342 sustainability points across categories, including Manufacturing and End-of-life Management.
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Reduce Carbon Emissions and Achieve Net Zero
- In the interest of climate health, Wolf-Gordon has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050 (see below). In 2023, we took the first steps towards this goal via a third-party audit of our company’s carbon footprint.
- More than 50% of our Type II wallcoverings have Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), which report on carbon expenditure, and we are encouraging all our mills to follow suit.
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Design for Resiliency, Adaptability, Disassembly, and Reuse
- Wolf-Gordon distributes a wide range of high-performance interior finishes that are resilient and create less waste than products that require frequent replacement and touch-ups. Our long-lasting Scuffmaster paints have industry-leading scrub ratings and require less repainting.
- A dedication to a circular economy requires the use of existing building structures as often as possible. Our Stronghold® wall liner can enable the repair and reuse of pre-existing walls, avoiding their replacement or destruction and shipping to landfills.
- Many of our products are made using recycled materials. GATHER® Acoustical panels are made of 100% recycled PET, and many of our wallcoverings and upholstery textiles contain a percentage of post-consumer recycled content.
- We are currently working with the Wallcovering Association on a pre-consumer recycling program for the vinyl scrap and trim tonnage that otherwise goes to landfills.
Product Transparency
As a designer and distributor of interior finishes, Wolf-Gordon consistently works with our partner mills to increase their sustainability efforts and transparency. We see these disclosures as vital not because they “prove” sustainability, but because they empower specifiers to make informed decisions.
Health Product Declarations—In the service of human health, we have worked with our mills to disclose as much content as possible about their products. You can filter for products with HPDs under the “Sustainability” navigation of each category on this website. We currently have HPDs for about 96% of our vinyl wallcoverings, and all of our CLAIR® PVC-free wallcoverings, RAMPART and RAMPART Resolve® wall protection, and Scuffmaster paint finishes. About 35% of our upholstery textiles also have HPDs.
Environmental Product Declarations—In support of the ecosystem and transparency on carbon expenditure, we provide industry-wide EPDs for about 80% of our Type II wallcoverings. (EPDs and CDPH emissions declarations for our products are available on request.)
Wolf-Gordon seeks out sustainability certifications and standards—whenever possible and practical—to ensure that our products are being objectively held to high standards of sustainability.
Wolf-Gordon seeks out sustainability certifications and standards—whenever possible and practical—to ensure that our products are being objectively held to high standards of sustainability.
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Whenever possible, Wolf-Gordon seeks out third-party certifications, especially regarding environmental and climate health, human health, and circular economy.
- Our GATHER® Acoustical product is Declare®-verified by the Living Building Challenge to be compliant with Red List criteria.
- Wolf-Gordon is NSF/ANSI 342-certified each year for sustainability in wallcoverings. NSF/ANSI 342 certification is dependent on sustainability performance by all parties involved in wallcovering production.
- We were an early adopter of the mindful MATERIALS platform. The vast majority of our wallcoverings, wall protection, wood veneers, upholstery textiles, and paint products are listed in the mM Portal and easily searchable on our website.
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Where third-party certification is not practical, Wolf-Gordon still holds products to industry sustainability standards.
- We have a variety of LBC Red List Free textile and natural wallcoverings, wall protection, and upholstery textiles.
- When the California AB-2998 bill was enacted, we worked with our mills to exclude flame retardant chemicals from the finishes applied to our coated and woven upholstery textiles.
- Many of our upholstery fabrics and all of our PVC-free RAMPART Resolve® wall protection and CLAIR® wallcoverings qualify for Practice Greenhealth’s Healthier Hospitals Initiative.
- When per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were identified to have potential negative health and environmental impacts, we encouraged our suppliers to find formulations that eliminate them from their stain-resistant finishes. All of our coated upholstery textiles and a wide range of our woven upholstery textiles are PFAS-free.
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Because Wolf-Gordon holds products to high sustainability standards, many of our interior finishes can contribute to earning LEED credits. For the most current LEED data for any individual product, please contact [email protected].
- Many of our type II wallcoverings and all of our CLAIR® PVC-free wallcoverings can contribute to Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ) Credit 4.6 .
- RAMPART Resolve® PVC-free wall protection can contribute to an Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ) Credit.
- The majority of our natural wood veneer wallcoverings can be specified with FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification, and contribute to a Materials and Resources (MR)Credit.
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To locate products that conform to any of the above standards, as well as those that contain recycled content or are Made in the USA, use the Sustainability filters on this website listed under each product category.
Our Carbon Neutrality Pledge
In the interest of climate health, Wolf-Gordon has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050. We chose this year to align ourselves with the goals set forth by the 2015 Paris Climate Accords.
In 2023, we took the first steps towards this goal via a third-party audit of our company’s carbon footprint. We are currently using the data to create aggressive strategies to reduce our energy use, which are stepped up year over year.
Wolf-Gordon's system for packing and shipping samples is carbon-neutral; all carbon dioxide emissions related to sending samples are calculated and offset.
Sustainable Products
Above all, Wolf-Gordon prides itself on being an innovative American design company. We develop beautiful products that serve the aesthetic and performance needs of our specifiers while being conscious of selecting materials that are safe and beneficial to humans and the environment. This desire to create innovative interior products has led us to pioneer several alternative, and more sustainable, wall and upholstery materials.
We were first to market with a PVC-free contract wallcovering that meets or exceeds all Type II performance standards. The Best of NeoCon Gold CLAIR® collection offers a growing array of unique patterns, textures, and colorways, which are bleach cleanable.
To complement our popular RAMPART® wall protection, RAMPART Resolve® is a PVC-free alternative that meets the performance standards of rigid sheet goods. It’s flexible enough to wrap corners, impact- and stain-resistant, and easy to install and clean.
RAMPART Stronghold®, a wall liner made of natural jute and gypsum, transforms irregular surfaces such as CMU into smooth walls for applying RAMPART, eliminating the need to demolish and remove existing wall substrates that would otherwise be sent to landfills.
One of the most sustainable natural materials, our cork wallcovering and upholstery textiles are made from cork bark that regenerates. Processed without chemicals, the hypo-allergenic and mildew-resistant material is high-performing and has the feel of soft leather.
Made in the USA, our wood veneer wallcoverings are constructed with lumber harvested from sustainably managed forests, and conform to the requirements of the Healthier Hospitals initiative. Prefinished panels in a wide range of species are available and FSC traceable on request.
Made from recycled PET, GATHER panels combine high NRC noise control with striking design. The low VOC material has an HPD, is certified Red List Free, and earned the Declare® label. GATHER techniques include precision cutting, engraving, dimensional weaving and folding, and digital printing.