Portugal held a textile convention on October 13 and 14, 2022. Nearly 250 entrepreneurs attended from all over Europe and discussed the current challenges of the European textile industry and set the grounds for a bright future, based on some strong foundations like innovation, creativity, quality and sustainability.

There was an assessment of the geopolitical and macroeconomics changes and how this would impact on the future of the textile industry. Related topics were nearshoring and friend-shoring, independence from foreign gas through the use of European sustainable energy as well as circular and automated production lines.

A panel addressed the issue of greenwashing and the role of brands in communicating about sustainability. It looked at how the new European Commission regulations on eco-label, digital product passport and product environmental footprint would create a new framework. Another panellooked at the cost of sustainable investments, and how this cost should be managed within the entire supply chain, including brands and retailers.

Workshops addressed the themes of extended producer responsibility in textiles, digital product passport, recycling textile waste and labeling textiles. As these initiatives will be rolled out in the coming years – as part of the EU textile strategy – participants got a better understanding of the future framework for the industry.