Textile & Clothing Industry Overview
Portugal has a well-established T&C industry supported by a robust R&D ecosystem, a highly skilled workforce and a well-established value chain.
Go back
Textile and Clothing industry
Portugal excels in high-quality textiles, performance fabrics, and sustainable practices. Renowned for detail-oriented manufacturing and adherence to international standards, it's a leader in technical and recycled materials.
The Textile and Clothing (T&C) Industry has a long-standing tradition in Portugal, being widely recognized for its product quality, flexibility, skill set, creativity, innovation and short lead times.
The T&C Industry in Portugal is the 5th largest in revenue and the 4th largest in employment in Europe. According to EURATEX, the T&C industry in Portugal absorbed 9% of the investment performed in Europe within this sector, in 2019.
Most manufacturers are concentrated in the North of Portugal (namely in Oporto and Braga regions), where endogenous resources and existing know-how and skills make it one of the most relevant textile production hubs. Moreover, there's a notable expansion in the technical textiles sector in Covilhã, situated in Castelo Branco region, fueled by strong technological competitiveness.
Over the years, T&C industry has developed a set of specific and unique competencies throughout the entire value chain (including design, engineering and production), strengthening its competitiveness.
Aware of the heavy environmental footprint of the T&C industry, this sector in Portugal is greatly involved in the development of new materials, new production processes, the use of clean energy, digitization and advanced technical equipment.
Key figures
Main export markets
23
%Spain
16
%France
9
%Germany
8
%USA
7
%Italy
Source: Eurostat 2022; weight on total health exports.
Main products exported
15
%T-shirts, singlets articles
10
%Bedlinen, table linen home textiles
10
%Jerseys, pullover articles
5
%Men's suits, ensembles, jackets
5
%Women's suits, ensembles, jackets
Source: Eurostat 2022
Technical Textiles
Portugal boasts one of the most robust technical textile sectors in Europe, with an emphasis on producing high-quality, sustainable, and innovative goods.
Textile companies in Portugal are specialized in a wide range of technical textiles with different applications, including sporttech, clothtech, protech, medtech, mobiltech, hometech, among others.
Portugal has a strong, close and active scientific and technological system, where CITEVE (Technological Centre for Textile and Clothing Industry) and CeNTI (focused on Nanotechnology and Smart Materials) excel, being internationally recognized.
Training programs in textile engineering and other complementary engineering are crucial to the development of the T&C industry, where CITEVE and Modatex play a central role in strengthening the workforce with core skills aligned with the main challenges and requirements the Technical Textiles Industry faces.
Technical Textiles
Main international investors:
- - Royal Lankhorst Euronete Group (The Netherlands);
- - Dual Borgstena (Sweden);
- - KAP Group (Germany);
- - Mehler Engineered Products (Germany);
- - Nilorn Group (Sweden).
SABI. Top 5 international firms with highest turnover (2021).
Innovation
Case-studies chosen due to their innovation concerning textiles products.
Case-studies
1 /
Petratex
… Petratex, as a leader in textile innovation, has co-created the LZR Racer suit that Michaels Phelps worn in the Beijing Olympics. It also manufactures products in the health sector such as the VitalJacket by incorporating electrodes that work as a heart monitor…
TMG
…TMG has developed new materials for the automotive industry with the Fibreinsurface project where natural fibers are included in the materials used in vehicle interior surfaces, with the purpose of increasing the sustainability of the final products. These materials are used in the structure and interior of BMW electric models…
Borgstena
…Borgstena with the SATEX (Smart Automotive Textile) project introduced several types of R&D activities in the weaving, knitting and printing process, incorporating 3 types of lightening in the door panel and headliner of vehicles…
Did you know?
… CeNTI has created a “Smart mat that detects motion”, that uses conductive threads for detecting the presence and/or movement and fibers with non-slip properties, thus guaranteeing safety and comfort to its users?
… CITEVE has created CAR-IDT (RDT High Performance Center) to help new technology-based companies thrive in the T&C industry by offering access and support services to innovating technologies?
Cork-A-Tex was a project to develop textile substrates incorporating cork waste, namely cork stoppers, old cork products, etc. This project has been distinguished with several international awards, such as Techtextil Innovation Award 2019 and German Design Awards – 2022?
Recent track record in Portugal
Portugal has been on international investors’ radar, being the location selected for important projects and investments from multinational companies.
Recent FDI Projects in Portugal
1 /
Mehler Engineered Products (Germany)
In 2021, Mehler Engineered Products (owned by the German Group KAP) started a new investment project for manufacturing stretch fabrics in Vila Nova de Famalicão , North of Portugal. In the meantime, the first production line for producing the texturized threads has been installed. This investment allowed Mehler to cover the entire production process of stretch fabrics in house: from texturizing, assembling, twisting, through weaving, tumbling, treating and testing the stretch fabrics with high elongation.
Lantal (Switzerland)
In 2019, Lantal announced a new production facility in Santo Tirso, North of Portugal, to expand its production capacity of textiles for the transportation industry. With an investment of €1.7m, Lantal wanted to expand its production capacity by around 90%.
Nextil (Spain)
In 2018, Nextil Group acquired the Portuguese company Playvest located in Braga . Playvest is specialized in the sports textiles , creating fabrics and garments that boost the athlete's performance.
What investors say
The competitiveness and eagerness demonstrated by Portuguese companies opens new opportunities to investments from the Swiss Group.
The Portuguese company is the most advanced when it comes to digitalization provided by the very strong connection with investigation centres and universities.
The Portuguese unit is a reference in Europe, having available last generation equipment capable of producing everything in a single space
Portugal provided Devan a young, dynamic team with a know-how in an emergence area as microencapsulation with patented and differentiated technology.
