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With an investment of around 500 thousand euros and included in PT2020, ‘Hybrid Perfomance’ is the name of the TMR Fashion Clothing project that aims to “diversify current sales volume with a stronger presence in more technical and performance clothing and, equally, working on a product with more added value”, said Miguel Máximo, Financial Director of TMR, to T Jornal.
The commitment to technical and performance materials already existed, with the company opening its presence at the last edition of ISPO and with good results. However, “we did it through outsourcing and, now, with the internalized process, we can be present in this market in a more competent way”.
“Aimed at more technical sports and with the development of other 100% sports parts for more adverse environments or different levels of demands”, TMR now has a new line that can respond to the customers it already has in this segment. “We believe we can increase our turnover and sales for these brands or products”. Furthermore, the Commercial Director, Mariana Máximo, does not hide her ambition to reach other geographies, namely the USA or Canada, “countries where outdoor advertising has more importance”.
Through the acquisition of various machines, namely cutting machines, such as sheet-by-sheet cutting, “it is also possible to make the prototyping process faster and more efficient, which is, due to the technicality of the product, more voluminous than in a fashion product, more traditional”. In turn, the hot-cold press – also part of this investment – “allows us to guarantee the temperature and quality necessary for the process using thermo-bonding”, explained the CEO, Margarida Máximo.
This new machinery also does not forget to respond to a recent trend: traditional fashion increasingly uses more technical and performance materials. Thus, the new line can “give some aesthetic and functional touches to fashion pieces – not being isolated to sports”.
“More comfort is now sought in clothes. Therefore, a traditional blazer already has elastane, for example. In this project, we also purchased a machine to relax elastane fabrics and thus guarantee quality (better dimensional stabilization of the fabric) for cutting. Furthermore, in these blazers, the pockets are already thermo-bonded”, explained the CEO.
The project, which allows the development of more technical collections, aims to be something hybrid. “It is not just for sports pieces, but rather to merge a little the things that are our DNA: fashion, with sport and performance. We want to incorporate these added values into what we do best”, concludes the Commercial Director. Soon, it is the adventure at Performance Days in Munich.
