A VISION OF THE TEXTILE FUTURE
From high tech yarns of Tearfil to organic apparel with the European Ecolabel of Raith, going through Çeramica fabrics of Riopele and Silk Damask accessories of Haco, the best of “made in Portugal” is attending Première Vision Pluriel, in Paris.
France is one of the major markets for Portuguese textile and apparel products, with exports up by 88.5% in the first six months of 2012, in comparison with the same period of 2011 (ATP data), reaching 252.9 million euro. Knitwear and knitted accessories are the main export to France (representing 39% of all the industry exports to the country) and, in the first semester, this category grew 97.7%, to over than 98.6 million euro, proving the growing confidence on products “made in Portugal”. Knit fabrics (up by 91.6%) and special fabrics, laces and embroideries (up by 212.2%) were the two other categories with a strong demand in the first half of 2012.
«We grew over 25% in France in the first semester in comparison to the same period of last year», says Ana Vaz, market manager at Riopele, one of the Portuguese companies specialized in fabrics that exhibits at Première Vision. To keep the growth road in the French market and globally, Riopele is showing a collection for autumn/winter 2012-2014 that has as main novelty jacquard fabrics and where also shine double fabrics and very elastic fabrics, two major trends for next year’s cold season. Innovation is also the key word for Teviz’s new fabrics, either in design and processes and product technology, being in the spotlight «a flannel with aloe vera finishing, cotton/wool and cotton/modal blends and fabrics with fantasy yarns such as bocolet and pilling», lists commercial manager Paulo Loureiro.
Haco Etiquetas, on its side, announces a strong come back to ModAmont, after eight years of absence. «We have decided to return really strong and invest the most we can in trade fairs and on the promotion of Haco’s image», explains commercial coordinator Nélia Ochner. Therefore, the company devoted to accessories has prepared an extensive list of novelties, where it stands out «Silk Damask, because it is ideal to extremely complex details, giving refinement and legibility to the label», adds Nélia Ochner.
At Zoom by Fatex, the Portuguese presence is also strengthened with new exhibitors such as Figfort, which in this long-awaited debut shows its vast know-how under two areas: «apparel manufacture in private label and our own brand», explains Joaquim Malafaia, Figfort’s CEO. Raith, a regular exhibitor since the very first edition of this trade fair, continues to bet on its environmentally-friendly clothing. «As usual, our focus is on organic raw materials and this year’s novelty is a 100% linen apparel line», unveils Joaquim Rodrigues, manager at Raith, awarded with the European Ecolabel.
The participation of the Portuguese companies António de Almeida & Filhos/Tearfil at Expofil; A. Sampaio, Arco Têxteis, Adalberto Estampados, Fábrica de Tecidos Vilarinho, Fitecom, Lemar, Living Colours, LMA, Lurdes Sampaio, Paulo de Oliveira, Penteadora, Riopele, Somelos Tecidos/ITS, Tessimax, Teviz, TMG and Troficolor at Première Vision; Folhos e Plissados, Haco and Idepa at ModAmont; and A. J. Gonçalves, Custoitex, Figfort, Orfama, Raith and Squarcione, at Zoom by Fatex, takes place under the Associação Selectiva Moda’s project From Portugal, financed by EU funds (QREN). This fabrics trade fair is one of the 68 international actions in 25 different markets predicted for this year, that also include in the second semester Textillegprom, in Russia, Jitac, in Japan, and Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, in China, in a total investment of 8.85 million euro in 2012.
