PREMIÈRE VISION SET THE STAGE FOR PORTUGUESE SUSTAINABILITY

Brito Knitting took part last week in Première Vision Paris with its new autumn-winter 25/26 knitwear collection ‘The Origin’. Once again, the focus is on sustainability, the presentation of new fibres and distinctive finishes.

“We believe that our participation in Première Vision can be an important generator of opportunities for an organisation that, in addition to the technological aspect, is also looking to affirm its ability to identify and manage talent,” says Miguel Garcia.

“We know that any internationalisation project should always be a medium- to long-term plan,” he recalls, pointing to the European markets – France, Italy, Germany and Spain – as the target for this expedition. “We haven’t dismissed the possibility of exploring new niches in other less representative markets,” he adds.

Troficolor Denim Makers has insisted on making its mark at the trade fair for a decade. “Our proposals are always very well received by the customers who visit us and we’ve made very interesting contacts with important brands. We left Paris with a lot of sampling requests and good order confirmations,” Sofia Azevedo, export sales manager, told T Jornal.

As well as establishing itself as a benchmark in denim, Troficolor includes other types of fabrics that it has included on its stand. “For the FW25/26 collection we’re going to present a selection of fabrics developed with raw materials and production processes that are more environmentally friendly,” he explains, while emphasising the concept: eco dyeing – a new dyeing process that allows for a significant reduction in water and energy consumption.

Despite lower expectations due to the Olympic Games, the opening of Première Vision Paris managed to satisfy exhibitor J. Caetano. Pedro Pinto, senior sales executive at J. Caetano, said that the first day “went well, we had a reasonable number of visitors, including new customers from Canada, Belgium, Germany, England and Denmark”. The J. Caetano stand featured new printing techniques, quilted pieces and performance products. “We’re keeping up with thermocoatings, laser cutting and sealed seams,” he said.

On the Positive Materials side, the company managed to reactivate some contacts and make new ones, mainly from France, Germany, Scandinavia and Spain. To create differentiation, Posisitve Materials is promoting the new Die Recycle technology, which uses textile waste to repair the colour of garments and create new dye baths. PLA Nusa and Bananatex are also on offer. “We wanted to vary and bring more structures and varied compositions with regenerative cotton and wools.”

Joana Guimarães, a designer at Magma Têxtil, says she worked well over the three days, but she has noticed that the quality of visitors has been declining since admission to the fair stopped being paid. Several potential clients have started brands, but “it doesn’t translate into immediate results”, she adds. This is counterbalanced by the appointment system, which has worked very well, as well as the forum samples, which always attracts the curious.

” We bring smaller collections, with carded finishes and different, warmer touches, even though they’re in summer fibres. We’re also betting on versatile, non-trendy colours, as I said, with different structures,” she told T Jornal. France, Canada and the United Kingdom are three examples of markets that have visited the stand, with visitors from Nordic countries expected on the final day.

Première Vision is the best fair of all for 6Dias, “it’s the fair with the most visitors and customers from the most varied markets,” it said in a statement to T Jornal. To win over the French and Americans in particular, the three-day exhibition featured a collection made from sustainable orange, mint, ginger, milk, nettle, mushroom, banana and pineapple fibres.

“It was a different fair from the usual, with less than 500 exhibitors, but with a different way of working. Although the balance of the three days is positive,” commented Gabriela Melo, representing Somelos, last Thursday.

“Despite the attractiveness of the collection we are presenting, which was praised by those who visited us, in terms of comparative results with previous editions, we had a drop in visitor numbers of around 25 per cent,” said Belmira Rodrigues, Albano Morgado‘s market manager. A result that she says is “shared by most of our fellow exhibitors” – “We think that the PV organisation should rethink its strategy”, she points out.