The company specializing in fully fashioned knitwear is in a phase of stability, achieved thanks to close proximity to customers and strong technological investments, which allows it to have good prospects for the future.
For Orfama, which has 50% of its production allocated to the Montagut group’s own brands, and the other half to the private label, this is a time of consolidation. “We have had very stable production, due to the connection with customers, especially new customers, which has allowed for a longer-lasting stability in the company”, believes António Cunha, sales area manager.
This consolidation process is only possible, he reveals, thanks to “a lot of work in terms of market research”, including during the difficult period of the pandemic. “We continued to visit customers, to have close contact, and this allowed us to create a different dynamic to the one we had before”, explains António Cunha.
This proximity has even allowed Orfama to withdraw from trade fairs as an exhibitor – the only exception being Modtissimo. “Fortunately, we are in a relatively stable situation in terms of production and there is little point in going to trade fairs if we are not able to respond to our customers afterwards”, says the sales area manager. Even so, professional events, such as Première Vision, are important “because we have customers there and also to gather market information – it is important to be in the right place to know what is happening and to be able to make better decisions for the future”, says António Cunha.
With productions scheduled for the entirety of this year, Orfama is “already working towards 2024”, reveals António Cunha, who stresses that “we live in a very volatile world, anything can shake everything and we have to take precautions”. The company therefore continues to “make investments and adopt new, more optimised ways of working. We have new machinery so that, through this, we can increase the level of quality and, by increasing quality, we will increase our margin, because we will reach customers that would not be possible if we did not have the technology and optimised layouts that we have”, he stresses.
Technological reinforcement
Among the most recent investments is the acquisition of technology from Shima Seiki, worth 1.2 million euros, «which allowed us to create a product with added value», and the implementation of production with «wholegarment machinery is also underway – we have already purchased the machines, now we are taking the first steps», reveals the sales area manager of Orfama, adding that the articles produced in this way will reach customers in the winter of 2024.
In addition to opening up new product possibilities, technology is responding to the shortage of skilled labor that has been felt in the clothing industry. “Our type of product is labor-intensive [the company employs 230 people] and we are finding it increasingly difficult to find people specialized in remeshing, which means we have to think about the future. With machinery, we will be able to make the same product with less labor,” explains António Cunha.
For 2023, the sales area manager at Orfama , which produces private label products for Europe, but also for markets such as the USA, South Korea and Japan, anticipates a turnover similar to that of 2022, which was around 7 million euros. “We now have a product with added value and that is how we have grown,” he says.
As for the future, “the company has new, more optimized ways of working and new machinery so that, through this, we can increase the level of quality and, by increasing quality, increase our margin because we will reach different customers”, stresses António Cunha. “We do not want to grow in volume, we want to grow in margins”, he concludes.
Source: https://portugaltextil.com/orfama-em-consolidacao/