Invest and immigrate to Portugal to learn about Portuguese economic news: Beyond football, seafood, and wine, Portugal is preparing to list fashion as one of the industries it is most proud of. Although high-quality and affordable leather and textile products are its natural advantages, Portuguese textile manufacturers are not content with being contract factories for major brands.
As one of Europe's major textile exporters, Portugal has recently attracted the attention of many well-known fashion brands. The textile factory Riopele, located a 36-kilometer drive from Porto, Portugal's second-largest city, may be unknown to those outside the industry, but its list of international clients includes prominent European and American brands such as Zara, MaxMara, Calvin Klein, and Hugo Boss.
Well-crafted leather goods are the core competitiveness of the Portuguese fashion industry. Portugal competes with countries like France and Italy, and its advantage is being "high-quality and affordable." Portuguese leather goods currently account for 3.8% of the global market share, which is only one-quarter of Italy's (Italy's global market share for leather goods is 16.5%), but the growth momentum is significant. According to data from the Portuguese Leather and Footwear Association, the country's footwear exports grew by as much as 213% between 2006 and 2013.
The British fashion e-commerce site Farfetch was founded in 2008 by Portuguese entrepreneur José Neves. Born in Porto, a city with a developed garment industry, he established a foothold in local manufacturing with a footwear brand before founding Farfetch in 2007, and he won the British Fashion Award for "Retailer of the Year" in 2001.
José believes that Portugal will become an ideal country for importing raw materials, especially footwear products, for three main reasons: First, Portugal's craftsmanship is very close to that of Italy and France, but labor is much cheaper; second, the industry is mainly composed of small factories, which have lower minimum order thresholds, thus attracting high-end designer brands; finally, efficient logistics is another major reason—importing raw materials from Italy, France, or the UK and assembling them locally usually allows for delivery within three days.
In terms of the fashion industry, according to João, president of the Portuguese Textile Association, the 6,353 local textile companies have created approximately 123,000 jobs. The entire fashion industry's export value reached 4.283 million euros (approximately 28.679 million RMB), accounting for 9% of the country's total exports. In addition to contract manufacturing services, the burgeoning Portuguese fashion industry has been reflected in recent years by the rise of internationally renowned Portuguese designers. Designer Luís, who recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of his eponymous brand, said: "Our fashion industry is getting stronger, and our reputation is gradually growing." This creative designer moved his 2015 Autumn/Winter show to the National Library of France, where models walked among rows of books wearing the latest "comic"-themed collection.
Young designer Miranda, whose design headquarters is in Porto, debuted her eponymous brand at Paris Fashion Week for the first time this March. This brand, founded in 2007, has a latest collection titled "Paris One," which reinterprets classic tailoring lines with a subversive approach, suitable for modern women. Miranda used fabrics such as Japanese silk, brocade, printed velvet, and wool.
However, the development bottleneck of the designer industry also constrains Portuguese designers. Emerging menswear designer Mafalda said: "It is really not easy for young designers to survive here; there is basically no financial return." Miguel, creative director of Bloom, a support organization for emerging Portuguese designers, agrees: "Because the order volume for our own brands is very small. If you work as a contract manufacturer for other brands while working on your own brand, you can get good cooperation opportunities from the manufacturers." This makes it easy to understand why many factories in Portugal still rely on contract manufacturing for international brands as their main source of income.
Currently, Bloom helps young Portuguese designers by providing them with runway opportunities and displaying their designs in a concept store in Porto. The fashion platform Farfetch also acts as a bridge between the public and boutiques; among the more than 300 global stores recommended by the website, five are in Portugal.
Compared with "Made in Italy," "Made in France," or even "Made in Spain," there still seems to be a large gap for "Made in Portugal." At the international level, there is no brand as prominent as the Spanish luxury brand Loewe. Mario, a senior luxury analyst at Bernstein Global Wealth Management, once stated that Portugal might become a production base for luxury brands, but high-end luxury brands will still be born in Italy, France, or Spain.
