It is not sure if the EU legislation, even if the intentions are good, will be able to create an optimal scenario. A worst case scenario is that tightened legislation leads to higher costs which are passed on to the manufacturer, maintaining ‘races to the bottom’ in the industry. Avoiding this worst case scenario requires much closer collaboration between buyers and their suppliers. It also requires legislators such as the EU to really make a level playing field, avoiding the situation where some companies gain an unfair advantage by not following the rules because rules are not well enforced.

We believe in the myth that digital marketing is the way that leads to quick revenue generation and easy customer acquisition. Over the months, we realised that digital marketing is all about creating a brand image or identity and positioning it correctly for the right audience to start with.

After the growth recorded in 2021, the entire global textile machinery industry is now facing a period marked by great uncertainty. Rising energy costs, shortage of raw materials and electronic components, as well as the strong rise in shipping costs are hurting the entire industry.

We see the growth potential of on-demand production in all markets we represent, not just textiles. Through our exhibition, we’re giving printers access to innovative technologies and supporting workflows to enable them to capitalise on growth opportunities, including on-demand printing. It’s an exciting time for the print industry as we gear up for a decade of further digitisation across all market sectors.

We understand the fashion industry as an "ecosystem" in which not only many companies, but also every individual is directly or indirectly involved. Every human being on this planet wears clothes or textiles that have been more or less industrially produced. Accordingly, we also see a certain responsibility on the part of end consumers (at least in the leading industrial nations) to make their purchasing decisions (more) carefully.

The key drivers of the growing potential of technical textiles are coming from the user industries looking for innovation and the next generation of applications and products: lightweight, recycability, replacing other materials like textile concrete, protection, health, among others.

Many industries currently have an addiction to cheap fossil fuels, such as the footwear and fashion industries, and it is important that we as a society begin to ween those industries off of those unsustainable materials and move them towards natural and circular materials.

One of the last advancements we focus on is regenerative farming. Orta firmly believes that regenerative cotton is the modern and most pragmatic way to help stop climate change before it's too late. It is a blue-sky solution made viable and accessible through regenerative agriculture, and we are getting behind it to help this movement grow.

Continuous research to produce more sustainable fabrics is necessary, but we must be very careful. Fashion is fashion and it must remain so—beautiful, enticing, able to amaze, tickle desires, entice to buy... A flat product, similar one to another, certainly will be able to satisfy the word 'sustainable', but an unsold product, even if sustainable, goes back to the problem of recycling—something that is not consumed. Produce less, produce better and produce what is necessary—this is the real sustainability in my opinion!

When we start every Bossa denim collection, we think about cultural trends and influences. We want to fit our denims in the consumer’s movements and directions. So, we create frames covering the different aspects of the denim/jeans trends. We fill these frames with our ideas, our innovations.

The financial issues were tackled smartly by company’s directors who decided not to lay off any employee or make any salary cuts. The owners funded all the financial setbacks from their own pockets and this decision actually helped us as the employees really started to work with more dedication and were a big support in making the company running at full capacity once again.

Many customers came back looking for quality Italian denim fabrics and we were ready to supply them. In dealing with suppliers, the most complicated thing has been managing delivery times, which have lengthened considerably, besides the price increases.

We have regular orders with them—the order quantity might be small, but the orders are regular. We are also offering more fashion products as more and more garments are being sold online. We maintain regular contact with our buyers, through both online and physical meetings.

We have a huge focus on circular economy, textile recycling and sustainability in general. We are building partnerships with clients trying to promote the culture of recycling, we are trying to use as much textile waste as possible to start our sustainable journey right from the beginning of the fabric production, aiming at not using virgin materials in the production of the new fabrics. We are also investing in new recycling technologies about which we will be able to tell you more in the future.

Since 2007, everything has changed in the fashion panorama, but at the same time many things are still the same: the needs to have a place to meet stable and reliable partners, a place to look for new opportunities, to be inspired from exclusive and trendsetting fashion proposals, and a place to find out the latest innovations on the market.

Sure, hemp is attractive for eco-responsible reasons, but I believe we will still see a lot of cotton in the future as most of the cotton used in the collections now is recycled from post-industrial or post-consumer waste. Working with a sustainability approach would mean keeping on recycling all the cotton that has been used in the past years—not let it go waste.

Making vague claims based on inaccurate startling information leads to the misinformation that people are regularly being fed. The PETA statement does not consider the long term consequences of plastics (synthetics), nor the in-life consumption of water, energy, detergents, etc. used to wash synthetic fabrics (which leather doesn’t require). Nor does it balance the statement by referring to the social economies of many high-producing, low-income countries where both farming and leather manufacture form the basis of sustenance and income for large populations.

For things to change quickly (and permanently), we need accountability. And for that you need robust, verified, scientific proof. Verifying the origin of our products and raw materials should be the foundation of any sustainable or responsible practice. Once brands know this, they can then confidently look at the rest of their supply chain.

As long as people eat meat, there will be hides available to manufacture leather and we have an ethical duty to consume all by-products. Still the global meat consumption is growing with approximately 1% per year. But more importantly, as an investor you could support speeding the creation of a circular society where all by-products and waste streams are used and upgraded where possible.

All our factories are in the villages. We are trying to set up one in Jharkhand in a village. If you try to make a factory near the bustling metropolises, you are doing the wrong thing; it is not going to work like it did three decades back. You have to go to rural areas—to the east of India—where labour and land is available, where people do not have to migrate to big cities in search of livelihood and live terrible lives.