FROM PORTUGAL AT THE FOREFRONT OF INNOVATION

A. Sampaio & Filhos – Axfilia – Bergand by Gulbena - Fall Safe On Line - Heliotextil – HR Proteção – Line Workwear – LatinoGroup – are the 8 Portuguese companies that are travelling to Düsseldorf to participate in another edition of the A + A fair, exclusively dedicated to workwear and protective equipment.

CITEVE will present in the FROM PORTUGAL space its offer of technological development, laboratory tests and range of services in the area of PPE - Personal protective equipment. «”From Idea to Business” is the motto to exhibit the ability of this Technology Centre to support companies in different fields, namely Engineering and Development, Prototyping, Testing and Simulation of Use and Certification, among others», indicates the director of Citeve, Braz Costa.

In its 3rd participation, Axfilia highlights the Protective Wear, Workwear and Corporate Wear ranges, three segments aimed at different sectors. Maria José Machado, manager of the company, notes the importance of being present at this fair «as our core is effectively the export of workwear, we could not be more integrated and in line with this event, both in terms of size and location».

On its first occasion exhibiting at this event, Fall Safe will present its latest products, with innovative items and solutions for working at heights. Since innovation is part of the daily life of the Portuguese company, it is exhibiting several new features, including the FALL SAFE® Spider, the most advanced rescue and rope access harness, on which several updates and new features have been added, and also FALL SAFE Inspector®, software that allows the management of the personal protective equipment, all just a click away.

Present since 2011, Bergand by Gulbena aims to «consolidate our position in this market», according to Raquel Pereira, commercial director of Gulbena Têxteis, which owns the Bergand by Gulbena brand.

Heliotextil, is exhibiting for the second time at this fair. The company, a specialist in labels, transfers and trimmings, intends to «look for and sound out new customers and identify opportunities for the development of new products», says Vânia Fazenda, customer manager of the company. Heat Transfers, E-Print®, Coversealings®, Brand Protech, Smart Viewer and Trims, are the main stand out products.

HR Proteção, the market leader in PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and Professional Clothing, presents its industrial unit as a whole in this edition. «We want to capture the demand of international stakeholders looking to use made in Portugal production», states Fernando Mateus, CEO of the company.

Debuting at A+A, Line Workwear has very specific objectives for its participation. «Expectations are not very high because we are not known, unlike many of the companies present, and we are still inexperienced in the production of category III material - we have only been doing it for about 2 years. Gaining experience and creating contacts for the future are our main objectives», says Carlos Salgado, export & logistic of the company. Of special note are the full uniforms, made up of windbreaker, carded textile sweatshirt and trousers, with level III certification (protection against heat and flame, against electrostatic properties and against the thermal risks of an electric arc), the highest level in terms of personal protection.

Latino Group returns to the German fair and it hopes to «identify new customers, explore new projects with our current customers and identify agents for the European market», explains Rita Barbosa, marketeer of the company. The product highlights are in the area of Chainsaw Protection, Technical Knittings and Corporate Technical Clothing. «Our focus is our Private Label customers», she adds.

The participation of these 8 Portuguese companies in A+A was organised by From Portugal 2017, an initiative promoted by Selectiva Moda and ATP - Associação Têxtil e Vestuário de Portugal (Association of Textiles and Clothing of Portugal), which aims to promote the internationalisation of Portuguese companies in the fashion area. The From Portugal 2017 project is co-financed by Portugal 2020, under Compete 2020 - Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation. The value of eligible support totals EUR 12,422,824.75 of which EUR 6,815,741.00 are provided by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund.