Barcelos probably won’t ring a bell to most people, but this is one of the main Portuguese hubs when it comes to textile production.
According to data published by the Associação Têxtil e Vestuário de Portugal (ATP), Portugal's Textile and Clothing Association, this industry is responsible for 10% of the country’s total exports, 9% of its manufacturing industry’s turnover, 20% of its manufacturing industry’s employment, and 9% of its manufacturing industry’s production.
In 2022, this sector made a total of €6.1 billion in exports, even though unfortunately, the following year, it registered a drop in earnings, most likely due to the Russo-Ukrainian War (Opinião Pública, 2024).
Portugal is home to approximately 5,000 companies working in the textile sector, most of which consist of small and medium industries. The vast majority of these are based in the north of the country, with cities such as Porto and Braga being among the most renowned hubs (ATP, 2019). The town of Barcelos, located roughly 60 km north of Porto and with a population of slightly more than 100,000 people, is among these.
According to Mário Constantino, president of Barcelos City Council, the textile industry in this municipality represents 70% of the city’s economy and employs 50% of its population (O Jornal Económico, 2024). João Albuquerque, the President of the Commercial and Industrial Association of Barcelos (ACIB) stated that this city is home to 2,400 industrial units, most of which work in the industrial sector and were responsible for €764,7 million earned in exports in 2021 (Fashion Network, 2022).
Barcelos and Sustainability
Especially in recent years, sustainability has become one of the main focuses for the Barcelos’ textile sector. In the last Textile Industry Forum held by the ATP on October 24th, 2023, the President of the association, Mário Jorge Machado, declared: “From business models to technology, we are going through a huge change. All of this is driven by legislation that aims to respond to the greatest threat humanity has ever faced: climate change. If we are not able to find solutions for decarbonisation and defossilization of the economy in the short term, we could be creating imbalances that could be catastrophic,” (O Minho, 2023).
The textile industry in Portugal was responsible for 630 kt of CO2 emissions in 2019, highlighting the need to embrace greener policies to limit this sector’s impact on the environment (CITEVE, 2024). In a recent statement, the private non-profit CITEVE, The Technological Centre for the Textile and Clothing Industry of Portugal, announced the intention to launch a roadmap for the decarbonisation of the Portuguese textile industry. In this regard, Luís Ramos, Project Manager at CITEVE declared: “RDC@ITV intends to create a roadmap for the decarbonisation of the textile and clothing industry, which is basically to outline the trajectories of greenhouse gas reductions and list new technologies that could be implemented by the sector to guarantee reductions in emissions, this for the sector as a whole”. The project started in April 2024 and is supposed to end in March 2025 (Journal-T, 2023).
In general, factories operating in Barcelos tend to be quite environmentally friendly. To give a few examples, the Valérius group was awarded the SME EnterPrize for its environmental policies which focus on recycling materials in the creation of new textiles (O Minho, 2023).
Familitex, a textile company also based in Barcelos that ended 2023 with €23 million, has also been investing in sustainability for years. This industry is now using regenerative cotton, a type of cotton cultivated with the aim of keeping the soil healthy by limiting CO2 emissions and minimising water and fertiliser usage. On top of this, Familitex has reduced its CO2 emissions by using bio-based elastane fibers produced by corn for its designs. This company also creates yarn from spinning waste and has installed 551 photovoltaic panels for energy production (O Minho, 2024).
Barcelos’ textile hubs through the centuries
Barcelos was always considered Portugal’s capital of crafts. In ancient Roman times, this town was renowned for its clay production but throughout the years, its economy vastly diversified. In the second half of the 20th century, this city became the largest center for the production of ceramics in the country (Associação Portuguesa de Cidades e Villas de Cerâmica, 2021).
In the same period, the textile art of embroidery started to gain importance in this municipality. Mostly carried out by women, embroidery textile works were used to embellish locals’ homes as well as in religious settings, for instance, to decorate altars and adorn baptism towels. On October 2023, The General Directorate of Cultural Heritage (DGPC) officially approved the inscription of the Art of Embroidering the Crivo in São Miguel da Carreira, in Barcelos, in the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage (INPCI) (Publico, 2023).
Today this form of art has left its place for more lucrative textile productions. However, in recent years, Portugal has experienced a crisis in its exports due to both the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian war, and October 2023 registered a 5% drop in sales. However, according to the latest survey by the International Federation of Textile Manufacturers (ITMF) carried out at the end of 2023, 44% of entrepreneurs working in this field are expecting favourable changes in the first half of 2024 (Opinião Pública, 2024).
It currently seems that Portugal’s textile industry is gaining share as, according to Ana Paula Dinis, ATP Executive Director: “Although the EU in general, and the markets of Spain, France, Germany, and Italy in particular, have reduced their imports during this period, the truth is that Portugal is gaining share. We found that Portugal's share in 2022 [in value], in the EU, was 1.3% and at this moment, in 2023, it is 1.5%" (Portugal Têxtil, 2023).
Conclusion
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