Florim releases its 17th Sustainability Statement

The Italian ceramic group reaffirms the strength of a long-term strategy based on the pursuit of quality, innovation and sustainability.

“We’ve faced another year filled with uncertainty [...], yet despite that, we achieved the industrial and sustainability goals we had set for ourselves,”

writes Florim’s Chairman Claudio Lucchese in the letter to stakeholders that opens the Sustainability Statement, the annual report the company has published since 2008. Year after year, this report reaffirms the strength of a long-term strategy that the company has continued to pursue even during the most challenging periods, as was certainly the case in 2024.

The continued fall in demand caused by geopolitical tensions, wars and widespread commercial instability has had a significant economic impact. In 2024, the Fiorano Modenese-based ceramic group’s consolidated sales, excluding non-core activities, fell 7.7% year-on-year to €416.3 million, with an EBITDA margin of 18%. Despite this contraction, Florim has continued its pursuit of quality, innovation and sustainability, a strategy that is firmly embedded in its DNA and is supported by continuous investments.

€35 million were invested in 2024

Following the extensive plant and industrial upgrades carried out between 2022 and 2023 for an investment of around €235 million, Florim invested a further €35 million in 2024, including €26 million in Italy and the rest in the United States. One of the most significant projects was the refurbishing of the Fiorano Modenese facility (Plant 1), which included complete overhaul of the grinding and lapping department, installation of new production lines and the introduction of robotic islands, digital printers and loading/unloading machines. These upgrades have improved production efficiency and reduced energy and water consumption. Renovation work also began on the Florim Gallery in Fiorano, while refurbishment of the raw materials department at the Mordano site is under way and due to be completed this year.

Ten Flagship Stores worldwide

Part of the investment was also aimed at strengthening the brand’s presence in the world’s leading architecture and design capitals, a strategy that was launched in 2009 and has resulted in ten flagship stores being opened worldwide: Milan (renovated in 2024), Moscow, New York, Singapore, Frankfurt, London (with the new Clerkenwell location opened last year), Abu Dhabi and Rome, in addition to showrooms in Los Angeles (a 600 sqm space in the West Hollywood Design District) and in Seoul, both inaugurated between May and June 2025.

Increasingly sustainable processes

In 2024, Florim allocated approximately €10 million to sustainability initiatives, bringing the total since 2011 to €74 million. Renewable energy, energy efficiency, packaging and the circular economy are the company’s key focus areas in terms of the environment, where Florim has long served as a point of reference in the ceramic sector. These virtuous practices extend across all aspects of the company’s operations, from mobility and lighting to production processes and new product research, and include:

• recovering and recycling 100% of unfired waste, dust residues from filters and waste water in the production process;
• recovering waste produced by third parties; Florim’s CeramiCycle project, for example, transforms almost all the fired waste generated by sanitaryware manufacturers in Civita Castellana (more than 15,000 tonnes per year) into new raw materials;
• recovering rainwater by means of collection tanks, which in 2024 enabled 21.9 million litres of water to be fed into the production process, a 211% increase over 2023; a project at Mordano now also allows rainwater to be collected from yards and roofs;
• self-production of electricity at Italian facilities, thanks to two cogeneration plants with a capacity of 14.4 MWe and 127,000 sqm of photovoltaic panels providing 12.3 MWp in total; under optimal conditions, these systems can cover up to 100% of electricity needs (77.5% was achieved in 2024).

Sustainable beauty and design

In 2024, the company also launched a project to offset emissions from its CarbonZero product range, a series of carbon-neutral surfaces that now span 14 FLORIM and CEDIT collections, the entire FLORIM stone and FLORIM skin ranges, and 7 FLORIM USA collections.

Another decision that has had a significant impact in terms of sustainability was that of reducing the thickness of standard products, from 10 mm to 9 mm for Italian-made materials and from 10 mm to 8 mm for those produced by Florim USA. In addition to the well-established 6 mm thick products, in 2024 the company also initiated industrial-scale production of the new FLORIM skin line with a thickness of just 3 mm.

Finally, the entire range of products manufactured in the Florim and Florim USA factories contain an average of 30% recycled material, while the 20 mm thick range exceeds 50%.

After attaining Benefit Corporation status, Florim became a B Corp in 2020 and a member of Altagamma in 2022. It employs 1,432 people worldwide, who benefit from numerous welfare and internal training activities.