Special Carpet for Cleaner Air

Indoor Air Quality Often Substandard

WALLWIJK, The Netherlands, May 18, 2010 - Carpet manufacturer DESSO has introduced a new type of carpet specially
developed to improve the air quality inside buildings. The indoor air quality
is often far from ideal, mostly because of the high concentrations of fine
dust and particulate matter. This can lead to health problems. The Dutch
Ministry of Education, Culture and Science already announced an emergency
measure in January to improve the indoor air quality at schools.

The new type of carpet, called AirMaster(R), is eight times more
effective in trapping particulate matter than hard floors and four times more
effective than a standard carpet. This was the conclusion of a study
conducted by the independent German testing institute GUI1. AirMaster(R)
guarantees a significant improvement of the indoor climate and reduces the
risk of health-related problems.

Independent testing

AirMaster(R) was developed over the past year and has undergone extensive
testing by the independent German testing institute GUI. The study showed
that the patented technology of AirMaster(R) is eight times more effective in
trapping particulate matter than hard floors and four times more effective
than a standard carpet. This makes DESSO the world's only manufacturer to
offer a product certified with the GUI's golden logo, which means that the
carpet is 80% more effective than hard floors when it comes to trapping
particulate matter.

"The carpet significantly reduces the amount of dust and particulate
matter that float around indoors. The World Health Organization(2) has warned
that it is particularly hazardous to inhale particulate matter," according to
DESSO Chief Commercial Officer Alexander Collot d'Escury. "Miniscule dust
particles end up in the lungs, the smallest particles even in the blood
stream, and this could have serious consequences for human health." It has
also emerged from a study published by the University of Utrecht(3) that
particulate matter can cause asthma in children.

Emergency measure

A healthy indoor climate is currently high on the political agenda, as is
evident from the announcement of an emergency measure in January by State
Secretary Dijksma (Education, Culture and Science) to improve the indoor air
quality at schools. This came in response to a study by the Municipal Health
Service (GGD) which showed that the indoor climate at schools is far below
standard.

Active policy against poor air quality

A healthy air quality inside buildings is essential, as most people spend
most of the day indoors. In fact, people with a full-time office job spend
1,880 hours a year on average inside their office. The German asthma
foundation DAAB has for some time been pointing out that the harmful effects
of particulate matter are greatly reduced if carpeting is chosen as indoor
floor covering instead of hard floor covering. This spring the Dutch asthma
foundation launched the campaign "Polluted air ruins the lungs" to encourage
municipalities to pursue a more active policy against poor air quality, which
is partly due to high concentrations of particulate matter. According to the
asthma foundation, the campaign was prompted in part by the fact that the
Netherlands has for some time now been violating the European standards for
particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide in particular.

(1) GUI is an independent German testing institute that specialises in
analysing indoor and outdoor air quality and conducting studies at the
request of parties such as the German Allergy and Asthma Association (DAAB).
GUI carried out a study to compare AirMaster(R) with a standard PVC hard
floor and a standard structured loop-pile carpet. The test used particulate
matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 10[micro]m (PM10 and smaller).

(2) Air quality guidelines - global update 2005, World Health
Organization.

(3) Study, conducted by the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS)
of the University of Utrecht and investigating the link between
traffic-related air pollution and the development of asthma, allergies and
the associated symptoms in children up to the age of 8.

About DESSO

Today, DESSO can look back on almost 80 years of proven
performance, having built a reputation as a leading manufacturer of high
quality carpet tiles and broadloom. DESSO has four factories in Europe, two
major distribution centres as well as specialist customer service centres
throughout Europe, in America, Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East
and Australasia. DESSO products are specifically designed for both commercial
and domestic applications. Its commercial product offering can be found in
offices, banks, retail units, public buildings, schools, universities and
care centres.

DESSO Consumer Carpets is represented by three strong brands; Parade,
Bonaparte and DESSO. All with a rich history in manufacturing high-end
consumer carpets where products are available through specialist retail
traders, plus selected carpet stores and home furnishing shops.

DESSO's creative carpet design and service oriented approach
means that it has become a market leader in developing solutions for the
Hospitality, Marine and Aviation (HMA) markets.

DESSO Sports Systems leads the market in the provision of artificial turf for
sports fields and reinforced natural grass systems that provide the perfect
surface at every level of sport.

DESSO's innovation strategy is concentrated in 3 key areas: Creativity,
Functionality and Cradle to Cradle(R).

For more information about DESSO please visit our website:
www.desso.com

**NOTE FOR THE EDITORS ** Not intended for publication.
For more information, interview requests and photos in high resolution, which
can be used free of copyright and are suitable for publication, please
contact: DESSO, Fiona Bateman, +44-1235-554-848, fbateman at desso.com