The round table organised by EURATEX during its General Assembly on 28 May 2015, became an exceptional opportunity to meet young entrepreneurs sharing their views on the challenges and opportunities for creating and running a manufacturing SME in Europe.

Five fashion and textile start-up companies from UK, France, Belgium and Spain came to Brussels to present their ideas, new business models and innovative methods of production.

Recipe for successful start-up

From the wide-spectrum of markets addressed during the round table there is no single recipe for a successful start-up, perhaps a number of ingredients should be combined – talented people with a bright idea, a good strategy and a decent plan of its execution, the European Apparel and Textile Confederation reports.

The role of the external support is essential, in terms of finance and mentoring in protecting and safeguarding innovation. However, there are much more factors that determine the actual success of the newly created textile and fashion companies, according to the Confederation.

Marcel Olivé, CEO of Nooem – the Spanish company producing textile-based accessories for technology, underlined that business environment should be more favourable for young companies willing to produce made in Europe goods. He believes that entrepreneurial people often get discouraged by uneasiness to start and run their own business – administrative burdens, stern taxation rules and humble access to finance. 

Trust and mutual understanding

Building trust and mutual understanding among the actual and potential partners is another challenge for the new companies. Catherine Teatum and Rob Jones, owners of London based womenswear brand Teatum Jones, say it was not easy for them to build the reputation of trusted business partners. Receiving the renowned awards from the UK Fashion and Textile Association and the Centre of Fashion Enterprise helped them to gain recognition.

BioSerenity, the company using smart clothing with embedded medical diagnostic devices, has also been recognised by a number of international awards. Pierre-Yves Frouin, the company’s CEO, pointed out that along with the financial prize, awards bring valuable mentoring support and networking opportunities.

Venture capital is another source of finance for young companies. However, all participants of the round table agreed that while preparing fund raising a long time in advance, the start-ups should not lose track of their own business model and strategic priorities.

Cross-fertilization of ideas

To start a prosperous company, often there is no need to reinvent the wheel – one should apply disruptive approach to the existing models and cooperate with the right partners, often thanks to the mentoring role of incubators.

Sébastian Ramel explained how using data in different manner brought success to his start-up company Fitizzy – an online service helping consumers to calculate the right size of clothing purchased online.

An interesting example of cross-fertilization of ideas was also given by the company Projects, which started the production of textile based volleyball nets with embedded led lights. To respond to the specific need of certain sport it implied launching new industrial value chains on very narrow market niches.

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