he pandemic crisis has affected all the textile and clothing chain of value, even in segments that were thought to be less exposed or where it was imagined that the recovery of the activity would be more immediate. According to Euratex, the business flow of European textile and clothing fell approximately 20%. According to Mckinsey, even global brands with a consolidated presence and consistency in online commerce have witnessed slow economic upturns or are still facing significative sales decreases. 

It is unquestionable that consumer behaviour towards fashion has changed. The logics underlying purchase decisions have shifted, new values are arising and others are gaining new relative importance – that is the first learning we shall draw from this crisis. We have definitely learned that we are neither selling nor communicating the same way. The information about the product is now much more relevant and there is a whole consumer’s tribe that doesn’t want to go back in what concerns their purchasing demands. 

Another learning this pandemic crisis came to confirm was Europe’s excessive external dependence, both in terms of production as in terms of raw materials. The prospective study entitled “Critical Raw Materials For Strategic Technologies and Sectors in the EU”, published by the European Union, illustrates well the levels of supply risk in sectors and technologies that are strategic for the European economy. This month there were several news regarding production stops in national companies due to the lack of semiconductors mainly supplied by China and Taiwan… 

Let us remind what happened as soon as the race towards mask production started. The hunt to materials certifiable according to the corresponding norms (FFP2/N95) has placed an unprecedented pressure on Prolypropylene TNT Textile Fabrics, mainly produced by melt-blown technology, immediately revealing the tip of this iceberg. 

Regarding ITV I believe we should have started the search for local solutions for the raw materials issue sooner, in order to reduce the excessive external dependence that currently brings about new implications. Let’s consider the example of TreeToTextile project, which gathered the Stora Enso, Ikea e H&M group in promoting a more sustainable alternative to cotton, polyester and viscose obtained through traditional methods, betting to take the project to an industrial scale. I’m keen on this example for three main reasons: it uses results of previous years of investigation, taking the project formerly carried out at pilot facilities to an industrial scale; it is an European project that joins several companies in co-promotion (much more than the three promotors mentioned); it has a critical dimension (an investment of 35 million euros). 

If above all the impact visible resulting from the pandemic we manage to retrieve other learnings that are truly important, transform them, in a timely manner, in advantages to our industry we main be just in time of thinking about a new generation European industry.

Few industrial sectors have shown the resilience and the ability to learn how to reinvent themselves as ITV has. Therefore, with the optimism that always accompanies me, I believe we have effectively learned a lot with this crisis and, if we are agile in the formulation and application, we will soon be stronger.