Porto’s Textile Awakening

Words Siska Lyssens Photographs Florian Böhm In Porto, design and technology

When the Eurozone crisis took hold in 2008, have been playing catch-up with was one of the countries worst affected. In 2011, it secured a €78bn bailout in an attempt to stabilise production. Portugal’s second city its public finances, yet the country’s monetary and social problems continued. Unemployment was at 12.2 per cent in the last quarter of 2015 and economic is more than 2,000 years old growth remains moribund. When the centre-right, pro‑austerity government was ousted in November 2015, only 11 days after it had assumed power, the – reason enough for UNESCO to message seemed clear. “Millions of Portuguese people will breathe a sigh of relief at the end of a government which for four years has made their declare the town’s centre a World lives hell,” announced Jerónimo de Sousa, the general secretary of the Portuguese Communist party. Heritage Site. Yet its recent history Yet in the face of such pessimism, the country’s garment manufacturing industry has become a rare symbol of optimism. Prior to the debt crisis, textile has been marked by a rise in its manufacturing in Portugal had fallen sharply, shedding jobs as well as reducing output. Yet post-bailout, the The view down from the Dom Luís I bridge. trend began to reverse and in 2011 Reuters began to textile industry. And the city’s speak of a nation aiming to “weave [its] way out of Conservas Ramirez, the world’s oldest canned-food crisis”. The prediction certainly had some truth to it producer. Textiles have always been one of the major because 2014 was the best year in more than a decade elements of this manufacturing base – the historian nascent fashion sector is now for Portugal’s textile and clothing manufacturers, with David Birmingham noting the “particular success” exports up 8 per cent at €4.6bn, according to the of the city’s 19th-century linen, spinning and weaving waking up to it too. industry association Associação Têxtil e Vestuário industries – but the growth of this area is now de Portugal (ATP). While Portugal’s fashion production accelerating. João Rafael Koehler, the president of still falls behind countries such as Italy, and both ANJE (Portugal’s National Association of Young , it benefits from being highly specialised. Entrepreneurs) and the fashion week Portugal Fashion, Between 2006 and 2013, for instance, the country’s sees this as part of a historical continuum. “Portugal’s exports of leather shoes rose by 213 per cent – from textile and clothing industry benefits from a long 36.5m to 114.4m pairs – and its leather-shoe and industrial tradition in garment manufacture, allied accessories industry now represents 3.8 per cent with a new creative and technological impetus,” of the global leather-goods trade. he says. “That combination means that the quality- Much of the fashion sector’s growth is centred price-proximity ratio is hard to beat, not only in around Porto, one of the nation’s manufacturing Europe, but anywhere in the world.” hubs. The list of companies hailing from the area Porto is a slow-paced city. Blue-and-white-tiled is impressive. Corticeira Amorim, the largest cork churches alternate with traditional snack bars that manufacturer in the world, was founded almost 150 seem to be continually populated with young and old years ago and is based just outside the city, as is eating Franceshinas (rich cheese and meat toasties A statue in the middle of Jardim da Rotunda da Boavista, Porto. 68 Travelogue with a beer-based sauce) or drinking vinho verde. To To discover the undercurrent of discover the undercurrent of growing creativity here is surprising at first sight, but not hard to fathom: rents are cheap, as is dining out. This opens up time and growing creativity here is surprising financial space for creativity. Some 55 designers are listed as participating in Portugal Fashion, and the vast majority work with Portuguese manufacturers at first sight, but not hard to fathom. based mainly in the north of the country, outside Porto. Rather than travelling to far-flung production sites in places such as India or , these designers produce locally. This cuts their costs, while also letting them keep a close eye on the quality of the fabrics. “I came to Porto to study fashion design in 1992 and, as the north of Portugal is strong in the textile sector, it made sense to me to stay and find work in the area,” says Catarina Sequeira, the designer behind Porto- based label Say My Name. “Porto has a strong manufacturing industry and the quality and price is quite attractive. All that is inherent in this area, which makes my job easier.” Hugo Costa is a menswear designer based in the city’s outskirts at the Oliva Creative Factory, a culture and artist space. Like Sequeira, Costa trained in Portugal and chose to remain in the country rather than moving to a fashion capital like Paris or London, citing Porto’s proximity to production and the quantity of available materials, as well as the quality of the manufacturing process. “We want to stay close to Catarina Sequeira holding a dress by her label what we produce,” he says, a strategy echoed by Say My Name, in front of Galerias Lumiére. designer Mafalda Fonseca. “Being based in Porto is important to our brand because of the proximity of a day since the firm was established in 1981. The the textile industry,” she says. “We choose to keep our company has invested heavily in technology – a zigzag production here because Portuguese industry is really machine for intricate decorative details is a new strong in fabrics, leathers and textile manufacturing. addition, as is a rotating thermal binding machine We can afford high-quality products here.” for dyeing fabrics – enabling it to develop innovative International fashion companies have also taken products. Thanks to such investments, Flor da Moda notice of these factors. Many now look toward Porto is able to produce trousers with memory adjustment, for production. In addition to affordable manufacture, jeans that moisturise the legs through a bioactive finish high-quality materials and detailed finishings, Porto’s of shea-butter oil, and aromatherapy fabrics that location on the coast of Western Europe facilitates release scent through microcapsules. Although the easy inter- and intra-continental connections. For demand for such singular textiles is debatable, their many European brands, the prospect of working with production is nonetheless a display of the technical manufacturers within their home continent is an skill of Porto’s industry, as well as its willingness opportunity to keep ecological footprints down. to respond and adapt to buyers’ demands. One such textile manufacturer is Flor da Nuno Sousa, the chief executive of Flor da Moda, Moda, located just north of Porto. A vast roster credits the industrial base of Porto as a major factor

The Capela das Almas on the Rua Santa Catarina. of international brands such as Paul Smith, Karl in the region’s regeneration and recent economical Lagerfeld and Victoria Beckham rely on Flor da Moda’s strides in the fashion and design industries. “With production capacity, which has risen to 4,000 pieces the worldwide crisis, brands had to change their

70 Travelogue production concept and our industry took advantage,” he says. “Our designers are focused on providing As well as benefitting from a variety of models and options to customers.” This package is an attractive one, and ably summed up by the designer Alexander Wang’s recent decision the city, fashion entrepreneurs to move a proportion of his brand’s manufacture from Asia to Europe, with one hub based in Portugal. “We’re always looking to improve our product,” said have now begun to shape it. Wang in an interview with Business of Fashion. “When we push design, with design comes the resources to manufacture it – whether it’s innovative technologies in cutting materials or gluing.” Aeance, a new German athletic-wear company, is another example of an international company that has turned to Portugal – and Porto in particular. Aeance collaborates with Swiss, Italian and New Zealand companies on its synthetic textile blends, but produces its collections in a factory close to Porto. Nadine-Isabelle Baier, the brand’s co-founder, is clear about the value of the “made in Portugal” label. “It has always been important to us to produce within Europe,” she says, “and we researched extensively to find a factory that has longstanding expertise in both high-fashion and premium sports apparel. We finally identified Portugal as the optimal manufacturing location since the production perfectly meets our needs and has in addition a strong commitment to cut CO2 emissions.” Casa da Música by OMA, 2005. Yet Porto’s creative community is based on more than manufacturing. Miguel Flor is the creative director are all made in Portugal. The brand exemplifies the of Bloom, a young designers’ platform that is part of change transforming the industry, in which production Portugal Fashion. Flor works with emerging designers remains important but is increasingly influenced by the to establish their brands and argues that Porto’s technical innovation needed to speak to an audience background as a producer has held back proper that demands, in Klar’s case, sustainability and, appreciation of its creative industries. “Portugal also on a bigger scale, creative solutions. deserves recognition for the talent of its designers,” It is a point also made by Rui Moreira, the current he says, pointing to a new generation that is mayor of Porto. Moreira points out that although developing experimental creative processes and Porto’s factories remain, its industry is shifting from working with small-scale manufacture to address production to design. “Today we produce less with social, economic and environmental challenges. our hands and more with our intelligence – our A good example of this shift is Klar, a casualwear capacity to create, our creativity,” he said in an brand founded in the city by fashion designers interview with Le Fashion Post during Portugal Fashion Alexandre Marrafeiro and Andreia Oliveira, in in March 2014. “Nowadays cities are the centres conjunction with graphic designer Tiago Carneiro. of creativity and we want Porto to become that too. “Portugal is no longer living in old glory and Be it textile or fashion, furniture design, etc. Porto traditions,” says the studio. “It has a good niche is a laboratory for experiments.” of creatives and musicians, which we feel is a big part Moreira and his policies are often said to be Estelita Mendonça, photographed of our youth culture.” Klar develops its own vegan a driving force behind Porto’s ascent. Elected in 2013, in front of Casa da Música, shows textiles and favours tech fabrics in its designs, which he is officially an independent, but he receives support as part of Portugal Fashion.

72 Travelogue from the Socialist People’s party (CDS). Moreira has Porto’s background as a producer focused on policies designed to alleviate post-crisis austerity measures. In a New York Times article from November 2013, he noted that while these measures has held back appreciation of its had been partly necessary given the crisis, “what has happened in Portugal has been an overdose.” In the centre of Porto, Moreira tackled the Morro de Sá creative industries. and Mouzinho-Flores areas, where he built new apartment complexes, university dorms, a tourist hostel, a retirement community and various public spaces. But the city’s regeneration is equally obvious in instances of ambitious pre-crisis contemporary architecture, which introduce a sense of innovation to an otherwise antiquated cityscape. OMA’s tilting Casa da Música (2005) draws admirers for more than just its musical programmes, while Álvaro Siza’s steel-and-concrete Serralves Museum (part of a foundation that also features an art deco villa and landscaped modernist gardens) has become a symbol of a city moving towards renewal and recognising the need to participate on the international scene. “The last five years represented a metamorphosis for Porto,” says Costa. “All the developments in the city centre and downtown were non-existent previously and the city was not as lively. Porto has changed a lot, especially with the new policies of the current township. Porto is approaching the cosmopolitan vision of a city with a good infrastructure.” The fashion collective Klar are based A major part of this infrastructure, at least in terms in a municipal building outside of the city centre. of fashion, is Portugal Fashion. The fashion week celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2015, with its October edition splitting its time between one day in Lisbon and three in Porto. Most of the designers and labels on the schedule are names unfamiliar to those outside Portugal, but the ethos and network behind the week is significant. “With the support of Portugal Fashion some designers have found partners capable of taking their collections to the global clothing market,” says Koehler. “It has given designers the incentive to add a business strategy to their activity, without affecting the aesthetic component of fashion.” Porto’s role in helping its resident designers develop their brands is crucial. Flor’s work with Bloom places him in direct contact with emerging designers and he believes that growing a brand is easier in a smaller, less pressured environment such as Porto

Wrong Weather is a store and gallery than in a metropolis like London or New York. “I tell showcasing Portuguese and international them to be more organised and focused in their fashion in the centre of Porto. projects and their individuality and identity,” he says. The Guimarães office of fashion e-commerce firm Farfetch. 74 Travelogue “Porto is quieter and cheaper than other cities; it has nice weather; it’s near the sea; it has good taste At the Precipice in music and a clubbing scene; and it’s close to the textile manufacturers.” Words Tiffany Lambert Illustration Leonhard Rothmoser “I think it’s easier to do my work here,” adds Costa. “It's not an easy time for Portugal economy-wise, but being here is not a handicap. It's all about what you do, about your collection. Being here allows me to be in touch with all the procedures of production, while globalisation and the transit network let me be anywhere in a matter of a click or a quick flight.” As well as benefitting from the city, fashion entrepreneurs have now begun to shape it. João Pedro Vasconcelos owns Wrong Weather, a fashion boutique that is unique in Porto, but which would remain remarkable even in a creative metropolis. Vasconcelos opened Wrong Weather in 2010, with the store stocking directional brands such as Raf Simons, Rick Owens DRKSHDW, and Juun J. They’re the sort of high-fashion labels that have traditionally been You look down beyond the edge of a building’s ledge to an illuminated stretch of street a hard sell in Porto, a city that Vasconcelos describes below, lined with stores, and dotted with people and cars. You’re asked to step off the as having “a strong sensitivity for fashion, but which ledge and, even though you are aware this is just a simulation, somehow you can’t is also very conservative.” In addition, Wrong Weather move. This reaction is not unusual; many people become paralysed when faced with carries emerging Portuguese designers, such as Klar the dilemma. and Nair Xavier, and exhibits art in an adjacent gallery space, transforming the store into a platform to This July, Oculus VR will release Rift, an immersive virtual reality headset that support Porto’s wider creative community. “The scene promises “you’ll feel like you’re really there.” When in 2013, Palmer Luckey, Oculus’s is getting bigger, and [people are] more educated The studio of Hugo Costa, based founder, took his homegrown Oculus Rift from his Long Beach, California garage about trends and fashion,” says Vasconcelos. “We in the Oliva Creative Factory. to Kickstarter, his crowdfunding campaign generated $2.4m for “The first truly are very proud of our city and if we want the city immersive virtual reality headset for video games.” In 2014, Facebook purchased to be even better, we have to work together. We are Oculus VR for $2bn. a community above all.” predecessor Rui Rio – for driving Porto’s cultural and As virtual reality goes mainstream, a host of visions and fascinations, doubts and One of the strongest vindications of this economic development in these last 10 to 20 years. fears rush in. From Silicon Valley comes word that we will soon attend virtual classes community is the presence in the city of Farfetch, “The people in charge attracted tourism and created with avatars all over the world or take virtual vacations to far-flung locations. The the global fashion e-commerce company. Farfetch improved infrastructure,” he says, “which helped technology is already being trialled as a therapy for war veterans with post-traumatic was founded in London in 2008 by José Neves, a cluster of alternative culture in design and arts to stress disorder. Nasa uses it to recreate the environment of Mars to test its habitability. an entrepreneur who hails from Portugal, and now arise. We’ve been able to retain young talented people The New York Times took a step into virtual reality by creating rich, immersive, has additional offices in New York, Los Angeles and locally, while attracting international investment.” It’s in-depth reporting as part of its NYT VR app. And, of course, video games have been São Paulo. Yet alongside its London headquarters, a summation of Porto’s wider regeneration as a whole. a major part of the equation since the beginning. The Facebook-era Oculus wants Farfetch’s only other European office is based in Young creatives have found reason to stay in the city, virtual reality to “be the social platform of the future”. Guimarães, a town just outside Porto. This office swelling its cultural offering, while international In all of this, there is a nagging question: what are the implications? This is a time employs around 500 people, with the figure set to brands have begun to catch on to the potential of its of curiosity about the nature of these virtual experiences, but the harder work is rise to 700 in 2017. Around 125,000 garments and industrial backbone. Teixeira sums up the change well: figuring out what their place is. What do we do in these virtual worlds and will we accessories pass through its doors every season. “It used to be a place where no one wanted to live. want to inhabit them? Weaving together past intrigues and present emotions – for Luis Teixeira, Farfetch’s vice president of Now it’s a city that has a lot to offer.” END now at least – the release of a viable consumer virtual-reality headset keeps us operations and general manager of the Guimarães guessing as to what will be. office, moved to Porto in 2004 and has seen it change first-hand. Teixeira, like others, credits the regeneration policies of Moreira – but also those of his

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