Cláudia Azevedo Lopes
A producer of trimmings and accessories for the textile industry, Adifafe is committed to increasing its international share. The goal is to diversify markets, and eliminate the risks of depending on a small customer base.
“Many customers who used to take production away are now turning to Portugal, and we have to take advantage of that. Before, when we said we were Portuguese, the customers turned away. Now, we say we come from Portugal, and they roll out the red carpet”, explains Carlos Vaz, consultant for the company’s international area. For 2022, Adifafe wants to invest in internationalization.
“Indirectly, we export around 80% of our production because most of our customers work for Inditex. Therefore, we end up being very dependent on a single company – if something happens to it, a problem, it could affect us greatly. That’s why we now want to internationalize, diversify markets, so we don’t become dependent,” Carlos Vaz explains.
The two thousand colours that Adifafe offers in sewing lines, but also the threads, ribbons, cords, elastic bands and zippers, constitute the range of products that the company offers to its customers, in addition to a line of textile accessories, from sewing needles to glue and even machinery maintenance products.
“We are a vertical company. We bought lines and then dyed them to offer our customers more than two thousand shades. In addition, we also transform and optimize these lines and turn them into ribbons up to 12 centimetres wide, the so-called narrow fabrics, cords and zips”, says the Adifafe consultant, who in these last two pandemic years managed to keep the revenue levels with the sale of accessories – mostly elastic bands and nose clips – for personal protective masks.