he pandemic has been significatively affecting all the economy from one year now and the textile industry is not an exception. The limitations to the circulation of people, the sale of non-essential products (as the textiles are classified) and the strong impact in the hospitality sector has translated into a significative reduction of the textile sector orders, mainly clothing and home textiles (in this case a higher permanence at home has come to slightly mitigate this reduction).

I would like to approach a less spoken aspect but one that may also affect our sector in the future: the limitations that the pandemic imposed in the teaching of Textile Engineering. The strong restrictions to presential learning have translated into a significative reduction of lab classes and almost eliminated the possibility to develop field trips. From March 2020 onwards we have witnessed a strong incentive to the use of distance learning tools but the contact with the practical reality may not be replaced efficiently by informatic means. It is more and more essential for an engineer to be able to dominate informatic tools, whose utility is undeniable. However, the industrial production is made from raw-materials, machines and, mostly, people in an industrial atmosphere and not in front of a computer. For instance, CAD tools enable the conception and visualization of textile items. However, we can not get dressed with virtual clothes. We therefore hope that the restrictions will end soon and that the practical classes and field trips may be reinstated in fullness.

To conclude, there are good news: according to the General-Direction of Education and Science on 2015-2019 graduates Employability data, Textile Engineering is one of the few courses with an 100% employability rate in Minho University.