In April 2023, during Latvia’s state visit to Portugal, the Latvia-Portugal Business Forum was held. The Latvian delegation included more than 40 entrepreneurs. Among them, taking part as an entrepreneur, was the person who today leads our association. What he saw there still shapes our thinking.

Everyone said European textile was dead

For decades, one and the same story was told. European textile was killed by Asia. Cheap production went east, factories closed, the work disappeared. In many European countries, that is indeed what happened. Also in Latvia.

Portugal did not take that message as the final word. Today the country’s textile and clothing sector exports around 5.5 billion euros a year and employs more than 130 thousand people in close to 12 thousand companies. That is roughly 7 percent of the country’s total exports. The sector is not dead. It is more alive than ever.

How it almost died

But it was not always so. In the nineteen-nineties and two-thousands, Portuguese textile took a heavy blow. When the world opened up to cheap Asian production, Portuguese factories built for high volume and low cost began to lose. Warehouses emptied. Many companies closed.

This is important to remember. Portugal was not a lucky exception where everything came easily. It went through exactly what Latvia went through. The difference is in what they did next.

How they came back

The answer is simple to say and hard to do. They stopped competing on low price.

Instead, the Portuguese chose quality, design and speed. They began to work with the world’s fashion houses, for whom what matters is not the lowest price but a reliable partner who delivers on time and well. Today the label “Made in Portugal” is, in itself, a promise of quality.

A system, not luck

Behind this success there is a system, not chance. Most of the production is concentrated in the north of the country, where more than 70 percent of the sector works within a 100 kilometre radius. Companies are close to each other, so cooperation is fast and cheap.

Next to them are technology centres and universities that research new materials and train people. And there is one more advantage: Portugal produces with clean energy, since a large share of its electricity comes from renewable sources. In the new Europe, where buyers and laws demand care for the environment, that is a serious selling point.

Why this is our story

Portugal is living proof. A small European country can win in textile, if it chooses the right path. Not the cheapest one, but the smarter one.

That is exactly what our chairman saw with his own eyes in 2023. Today it has become part of our association’s outlook. Latvia cannot be cheap, and it should not try to be. But Latvia can be good.

Honest: we are not Portugal

We do not want to pretend that tomorrow we will become another Portugal. Their sector is larger, older and better connected. We do not yet have such a cluster or such research support.

But the principle does not require being big. It requires being clear. Quality, not cheapness. Cooperation, not each on their own. Sustainability as an advantage, not a burden. These steps can be taken by a small country too, if it takes them together.

Let’s walk this road together

No single company walks the right road alone. We need a shared direction, shared standards and a shared voice. If you believe Latvian textile has a future in quality, not in low prices, become a member.