Textiles: in the Première Vision window, Portugal puts “confidence” and “enthusiasm” as brand images
“The national industry is in Paris with strength and prominence”, but the good news on the side of orders does not remove all shadows from the horizon, advancing Manuel Serrão, director of Associação Selectiva Moda. The company’s labor costs and rising energy costs are some of the concerns of Portuguese companies highlighted in yet another edition of Premiere Vision, in the French capital.
“First, imagine a fair that opens with half the stands it had in 2019. Then think that the Portuguese presence continues to be around 60 companies, as it was 3 years ago. Finally, consider how the impact of this group will automatically increase.” This is how Manuel Serrão, director of Selectiva Moda, talks about the Portuguese presence of Première Vision (PV), one of the most important textile and clothing fairs in the world.
In statements to the Express This Tuesday opened the doors to yet another association created for a certain national reform, the person responsible for this edition has no doubt that “the strong Portuguese presence shows well the path that the sector is taking, with commitment and resilience ”.
A sign of the times, the other presence that certainly stands out is Turkey, which “seems to be stronger than the old competitors of the Portuguese textile industry, such as Spain or France”, he says.
After accompanying national companies at the first fairs of the year, from Milano Único and Pitti Bimbo, in Italy, to Momad, in Madrid, and, now, to PV, in France, Manuel Serrão has no doubt that the sector “has achieved more once and is to the negative impact of the pandemic”. “In Madrid, we were the only country that also increased the number of exhibitors, from 12 to 16”, he comments.
Of the companies that participated in these events, they had “very positive and encouraging results in terms of orders and business perspectives”. “The trend of looking for suppliers of proximity and trust is confirming, which benefits our industry”, he underlines.
“We feel more and more confidence, charm and optimism on the side of companies. These are the messages that pass to us in each event in terms of demand. No one complains about a lack of orders,” she says.
However, he refers, there are still some shadows also due to the resistance of the workforce and the worsening of absenteeism due to the pandemic, but some special shadows also with regard to energy.
Energy costs could “be more devastating” than the pandemic
A tour of some companies confirms the atmosphere of confidence regarding the potential of the business, despite the “problems never leaving the scene definitively”, as they comment to the Express José Alexandre Oliveira, Riopele, a president of the main companies in the sector, with 1,100 workers, and also one of the first national textiles with the presence mark in PV.
From the Paris fair, which is now starting, the businessman expects “good results”, in line with what happened at Milano Único, where he stayed for a week. “Things are very well reserved. Buy I can say that we have full production capacity and that customers are once again wanting to be closer to fabrics and clothing. The business climate is frankly positive and an indicator of growth”, he says, after having closed 2021 at 75 million euros in sales, in line with 2020, slightly below the 78 million in 2019.
Exporting 98% of what it produces, admit, however, that just as in Italy it had visits essentially from Italian customers or clients, in Paris, the visitors are usually French, which “forces the company to increase itself in personalized contacts and new ways of approaching customers in markets and more distant, such as the USA, China or Japan”.
As for the problems with difficulty, with Manuel Serrão, he refers to the issue of manpower, which threatens the ability to respond to orders and energy costs. “In months of coming to terms with later, gas will increase, which has increased almost 8 times, and electricity, where I have seen the bill triple. This is committed to saying that sales are more devastating than the pandemic”, before risking sales growth in 2022, but fearful of what will happen in terms of profitability.
The main event once again focusing attention on the fair, Lemar, already with 20 years of presence at PV, returning to Paris certain that it is “in the genre in Europe, with greater tradition and number of visitors from all over the world ” rediscover customers from traditional markets, but we also strengthened links with Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and the Maghreb.
Happy Probability, a national agency founded in 2015 with the aim of promoting internationally as collections of strategic partners, debuts in this PV with the aim of “increasing business volume”, advances Filipe Monteiro, with meetings already scheduled to intensify relations with the US and Australian markets.
Fitecom, which assumes that PV is its most important fair, is in Paris with “enthusiasm”, in the expectation that “the situation will gradually return to normal and quality European products will become more desirable and sought after”, says the president. textile executive from Covilhã, João Carvalho. In Paris, according to the presentation by Selectiva Moda, this company presents “rational noble fabrics made with natural and biodegradable fibers and a range of synthetic fibers recycled in a way, optimizing their industrial and energy conversion with the environment”.