PORTUGUESE FASHION APPLAUDED IN MILAN

From the 4th to the 6th February eleven Portuguese textile companies will be travelling to Italy, directly to Milano Unica. Arco Fabrics - Somelos Tecidos - Albano Morgado SA – Lemar – Riopele – Sanmartin – Tintex – Vilartex - Paulo de Oliveira – Penteadora - Tessimax Lanificio - have the support of Associação Selectiva Moda, under the From Portugal internationalisation project, supported by NSRF.

The 20th edition of Milano Unica is held over three days, at the Fiera Milano City in Milan. The International Fair, that is entirely devoted to textiles and accessories, presents the trends for Spring/Summer '16 in this edition. This is a twice yearly event - in February and September - for the dissemination of Italian and European textiles.

Vilartex is exhibiting at Milano Unica in order to strategically position itself to attack the Italian market and surrounding markets. At this edition, it will exhibit circular basic, multi-coloured, sustainable, organic, technical and functional knitwear textiles. The company operates in various markets, such as casualwear, childrens wear and sportswear.

The goal of Vilartex is primarily to "promote the collection of circular knitwear textiles, attract new customers, generate more proximity with the Italian market and surrounding markets, and it is an opportunity to meet agents and customers of current markets", said Carlos Coutinho, head of the export department.

For Riopele, however, this fair is totally focused on the Italian market, with about 90% of its customers from that country. It should be noted that this market is quite consolidated for the brand. Its collections are increasingly focused on affordable luxury, always with an eye on the latest trends with regard to new materials and colours. Mixtures of various fibres with a surprising impact, three-dimensional effects and some fluidity are some of the features presented in this Spring/Summer '16 collection.

Milan is a city that will always be associated with fashion and haute couture, states Sanmartin, which is exhibiting at this fair for the third time. According to Alexandre Leitão, the company's marketing manager, "we are keenly looking forward to the start as many of our current and potential customers show great interest in visiting Milano Unica".

Its fabrics are intended to create wedding and ceremony dress, as well as other clothing. There is special emphasis on bridal lace with precious stones, coloured lace, sequins and new brocades for party dresses in this edition. The ceremony wear for children is also to be highlighted, since the Italian market is very strong in demand for such products. 

Penteadora highlights the fact that customer access to the event is by invitation only, which permits contact with the best names in the fashion world: not only Italians, but a good selection of names from Europe, North America, Asia, Russia and Turkey. The company intends to attract a younger audience and hopes to consolidate and increase turnover, especially regarding its fabrics for suits, jackets and trousers.

The participation of Portuguese companies in Milano Unica is an initiative promoted by Associação Selectiva Moda with the support of European funds (NSRF), within the From Portugal project, and is part of a series of more than 87 international activities in 2014/2015, covering the entire textile and fashion sector, spread over four continents - Europe, Asia, Africa and America - with a total investment of 12 million euros.