PORTUGUESE COMPANIES ANSWER TO JAPANESE DEMANDS
The demand of quality and deep aesthetic and fashion sense of Japanese clients find the best answer in the Portuguese offer of fabrics and knits “made in Portugal” of seven companies, which have been conquering the market of the Land of the Rising Sun.
The demand of quality and deep aesthetic and fashion sense of Japanese clients find the best answer in the Portuguese offer of fabrics and knits “made in Portugal” of seven companies, which have been conquering the market of the Land of the Rising Sun.
A Têxtil de Serzedelo, Arco Têxteis, Lemar, Riopele, Somelos Tecidos, Troficolor and Tintex are the Portuguese companies in Tokyo, with an offer with European quality covering fabrics, denim and knits.
Already known in the Japanese market, Riopele is at Jitac with «high expectations, since our sales to this market are growing. In 2013, we increased our sales 15% and we hope to increase further this year», reveals market manager António Soares. In this edition, the fabrics’ company, which is currently introducing in this market «our most important quality, the polyester/viscose/Lycra blend», also has another concern: «we’re going to present our offer in an even more careful way because Japanese begin to work on their collections later than in Europe», underlines António Soares.
Likewise, Lemar, renowned by its fabrics with stripes yarn dyed for beachwear, is committed to consolidate the reputation it already enjoys in Japan. «We continue to invest in the market, but keeping the Japanese pace. It’s a market that I particularly enjoy, because of its deep sense of fashion and design appetite», says Manuela Araújo, Lemar’s CEO.
At Jitac for the sixth time in a row, denim specialist Troficolor wants to reinforce the business ties with its clients in this market. «The relationship with the Japanese client takes a lot of time, because they are very demanding. But we are now seeing results: increasing quantities, repetitions», explains Flávio Dias, Troficolor’s export manager. «It will never be a market for big volumes but since we aren’t manufacturers, we don’t impose minimum quantities. Therefore, we use our weapons – the customer service – to conquer the market and it turns out to be the ideal customer to Troficolor by its steadiness, loyalty and quantity’s typology», he says.
The Portuguese offer also has quality shirting fabrics by Arco Têxteis, A Têxtil de Serzedelo and Somelos Tecidos and Tencel knits by Tintex.
The participation of these Portuguese companies at Jitac, which takes place March 25th - 27th, is an initiative promoted by Associação Selectiva Moda with the support of European funds (Qren), under the project From Portugal. This project includes more than 65 international actions planned for 2014, which cover the entire textile and fashion chain, divided by four continents – Europe, Asia, Africa and America – with a total investment of EUR 9 million.
