T
With factories in Viseu, Castelo Branco, and Arganil, Goucam saved Lacoste’s production. Concentrated in Ukraine with the Russian invasion, production was unfeasible. The company’s availability and flexibility brought several French and German brands into its doors, covering Inditex’s absence.
José Carlos Castanheira, president of the company, managed to secure, according to the newspaper Eco, an order for jackets that Lacoste had planned to place in a clothing factory in Ukraine. The French brand accepted the move to Portugal, and the order is just the first of others: pants and coats for the next season are already in the portfolio.
With around 400 employees, of which 285 are in Viseu, this year Goucam got another customer in France, a market that now represents 15% of the total business – the same share ensured by the German market, where it counts, among customers, with Hugo Boss.
The new customers occupied the vacant left by the Inditex group, which “failed a lot with purchases at the beginning of this year”, José Carlos Castanheira tells Eco. It continues to be the most representative. However, the weight of the Spanish market fell from 85% to 50% of turnover in less than a year.
The group earned 16 million in 2019 but dropped to 10 million in 2020, having only slightly recovered to 11 million last year. This year, it expects to approach 12 million euros.