he Portuguese textile and clothing sector has an exporting vocation, which can be found in its DNA practically since its origins. That vocation has been reinforced by the sector’s expansion, especially in recent years, when the share of its external trade turnover rose from 65% to almost 80%, thanks to the companies’ efforts to deepen their internationalization – a response to the crisis they faced in this century’s first decade.

The presence in international textile and fashion fairs was essential for the positive change that the industry experienced in the last years, gaining advantage over the competition by presenting a strategy of value and not only price and by differentiating itself with new drives, like fashion, technological innovation and service. With that, it was able to conquer higher qualified consumer segments and to diversify into markets that normally were off the radar for most companies, especially SMEs.

Alongside this, the launch of the “Fashion From Portugal” program, aimed at improving the Portuguese textile and clothing industry’s reputation, has helped make the “Made in Portugal” label a synonym of high quality, innovation and customer-oriented service.

The “T Jornal” and the “T Digital” appear in this communication reinforcement context, which now, in the second phase of the aforementioned “Fashion From Portugal” project, will have a more internationalized side, launching an English version especially oriented to the external market’s public and accompanying the industry in their presence in events around the world, strengthening an already solid and ambitious image.

A final word of greeting to the initiative, which, I am sure, will join all the others that, in a coherent, consistent and convergent way, the ATP and the ITV institutions in which it participates and collaborates, have been carrying out for the uncontested success that the sector exhibits today and that makes everyone proud of, without letting us forget the responsibility of never accommodating ourselves.