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“Portugal will be increasingly relevant to the Scandinavian market”. It was this motto that Emil Pettersen, a Swedish buyer here at the Lemar stand, spoke to T Jornal last Wednesday, February 21st. While passing by the stand at MODTISSIMO, he talked about what captivates him most about national production.
“For years, I worked with large textile producers in Scandinavia. I got fed up because we went to China to buy the fabric. And then we produced them in Bangladesh. We did everything very cheaply and in an unsustainable way. So I decided to create my own sustainable textile project”, contextualized.
Reparell is a corporate clothing brand made from waste taken from the oceans (like Seaqual). And this is where Lemar comes into the picture. “I’ve been working with Portugal for around four years. When I was a small producer, I called several suppliers asking for six meters of fabric, but they all closed the door. When I called Lemar, they said that one meter was enough, and it started”. “Three months later, I was invited to be an agent in the Scandinavian market, which I gladly accepted. We are now great friends, and I hold fairs there twice a year”.
“Portugal makes small quantities possible. It is more expensive, but it is also more exclusive. It’s worth more, and I can defend my markup”, highlighted Emil Pettersen. He even gives the example of a project he entered into with Lemar and other national companies (namely Troficolor): “We were going to provide the largest water park in Goteborg, the second largest city in Sweden”, told T Jornal.
The company was responsible for dressing employees from head to toe. If it weren’t for a fateful fire a month before the opening: fabrics, design, and production would be made in Portugal. The project is currently on standby. “The clients decided to buy from us, even though we were the most expensive in the competition because it was Portuguese and certified”. It ended with the idea that “the Portuguese textile cluster should be proud of their abroad status”.