And if it was the time that the textile industry, which was the flagship of the Italian economy for centuries before being destroyed by low-cost competition from China, would once again bring out its peculiarities and specialties and returned near the splendours? It could do so precisely as a result of the current crisis which forces us to review the excesses of globalization, reducing borders. Among the stands of Unique Milan, the Milanese textile kermesse that ended Thursday after having welcomed almost 500 companies, this idea has started to spread, together with great enthusiasm.
The numbers in the sector prove this perspective right, with double-digit growth that makes us forget even the pandemic, during which new products and new processes were born. But above all at the basis of the new trend that is emerging there is also the opportunity, resulting from the difficulty of finding materials and therefore from the need to shorten the supply chain, to bring back the business within the borders, Italian and European, the so-called reshoring.
"Shorten the supply chain it is not only an economic advantage due to the needs arising from the crisis: it is also an excellent one opportunity to reactivate and bring out again the very many specialized Italian companies in a sector that has always stood out in the world for its excellence,” he says Gaetano Casillo, General Manager of CNC Fabrics, 8000 customers in 36 countries around the world, which has demonstrated over the years that it has always been a trend forerunner.“
Companies have shown incredible vitality, despite the difficulties of the moment,” he said Sergio Tamborini, President of Italian Fashion System specifying that “the phenomenon of reshoring, real even if not immediate, could represent a great opportunity not only in general for Europe and North Africa, but in particular for Italy, which has a huge production area in the south”.
Textile-clothing +34% in the first quarter, at pre-covid levels within the year
The industry numbers shine. The president of Milano Unica Alessandro Barberis Canon who is also CEO of the historic Vitale Barberis Canonico wool mill, highlighted that the textile-clothing sector is recovering strongly and it is expected that at the end of 2022 we will return to pre-pandemic levels ”. In the first quarter of 2022 “Italian weaving grew by 34%, with +46% in exports”, he adds, despite the difficulties that this sector too is encountering in this period: raw material costs and energy and gas costs (fourfold compared to 2021) as well as the lack of skilled labour.
“Textile manufacturers are faced with three fundamental challenges in order to further retain their customers”, commented an expert in the sector present at Milano Unica. “Reduce delivery times, develop new materials and invest in new talent, training them adequately. This would make it possible to ensure further impetus and relevance to the sustainable know-how of Made in Italy, as well as a significant competitive advantage towards client brands and final consumers”.
Cnc Tessuti anticipates the trend by shortening the supply chain and focusing on new eco products
Among the aisles of Milano Unica, the Cnc Tessuti stands are immediately recognizable, set up as art galleries thanks to the Italian-Venezuelan artist, Felix Policastro and for the preparation of the Metaverse with which you can directly visit the headquarters of the company in Nola, in Campania. “This too is innovation, says Casillo again. “We want to be protagonists of a different, digital and sustainable future”. Cnc Tessuti produces between 15 and 18 million meters of fabrics a year, which translated into turnover means 33 million euros in 2021 and 26 million in the first half of this year alone, 30% more than in the same period of 2019, before the pandemic crisis. Thus anticipating the trend of the whole sector.
“Our companies, thanks to the knowledge of the sector and of the territory for three generations, have managed to maintain reliable delivery times even in this long period in which many others have had supply chain problems”, says Casillo to explain the good performance of the company. “Also right during the closure due to Covid we took the opportunity to study new roads, with new designer, new prints and new workings: so every six months we offer 250 new products ready for delivery. In particular, we have focused on eco-sustainable fabrics, with GOTS certified fibers from organic farming or with fibers from recycled materials with GRS certification (the most important international standard for the sustainable production of clothing and textile products made with recycled materials).
“We focus on the green vision of the business”, adds Ciro Carillo Operation Manager of CNC, “increasing the range of made in Italy products, reducing the length of the spinneret and aiming at restoring. We use natural fibers or recycled polyesters: eco-design will be the basis of the next Cnc Tessuti collections”.
