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Once upon a time there was a sewing workshop in Lisbon that made suits for the most reputed TV shows and Hollywood films, and which had in their 4.500-square-metres warehouse the world of magic and creativity of the Maleficent movie and the dirty streets of Birmingham of the Peaky Blinders series.
We’re talking about the Spanish Peris Costumes, based in Madrid, one of the most renowned costume companies in the world, which has opened a branch office in Portugal back in 2016. In an industrial complex in the eastern part of the city of Lisbon are currently being held more than five million garments – military uniforms, suits and garbs used by princes and princesses.
They started out with four people and now there are 32, of which 90% are the women who brought to life the 500 suits of the second Maleficent movie and the Peaky Blinders shirts, which took about four hours – each – to be made, such is the painstaking work so that the garment comes out realistic. One of the strongest suits of the Portuguese textile industry, which allured the Spanish company with its high quality and know-how.
“We needed a more handmade workshop for suit manufacturing. One of the reasons we came to Portugal was because of the sewing tradition”, shared Alejandro Toledo, the man in charge of managing the company’s branch office in Portugal, which not only makes clothes from scratch, but also has a clothing rental service for both film productions and the common public.