Following US success, Peruvian manufacturers set sights on European market

Peruvian clothing manufacturers are eyeing the European market. They
specialise in the manufacture of knitwear made of alpaca wool and Pima
cotton, both premium products from their country. To date, the
manufacturers have produced mainly for the US market, but now they are
attracting the attention of European labels like Missoni and Ted Baker.

During Berlin Fashion Week, 16 Peruvian fashion manufacturers presented
their products and services at the Peru Moda Berlin in a small, exclusive
setting at Berlin’s Kulturbrauerei. Around 45 buyers from nine European
countries attended the sourcing event on the 4th of July, among them
representatives from British companies like Ted Baker, Italian knitwear
specialist Missoni and French childrenswear manufacturer CWF. The
atmosphere at the event was relaxed with focused conversations between
buyers and exhibitors.

This past year, Peru’s textile industry exported goods valued at 1.5
billion US dollars (1.3 billion euros), the majority of which, valued at
905 million US dollars, went to the United States. The share of exports to
Europe amounted to 90 million US dollars – at 13.1 percent, they are
growing faster than exports to the USA at 9.4 per cent. Peru’s textile
industry is one of the country’s most important manufacturing industries
employing nearly 300,000 people. Local manufacturers do not try to compete
with major textile suppliers like Bangladesh or India, but are instead
positioning themselves in the higher end clothing segment with high-quality
native fibres like Pima cotton and also, to an increasing degree, in the
area of sustainability.

Alpaca: precious wool in limited supply

Three of the manufacturers of knitwear made from alpaca wool
represented at Berlin are members of the World Fair Trade Organization,
among them Allpa. The company was founded 33 years ago by a group of young
Peruvians to support the country’s handicrafts and market them
internationally. Today, 80 shops, small to medium-sized businesses, work
for the company – including some that process alpaca wool into blankets and
knitwear. “In terms of quality, alpaca wool is on par with fine merino wool
and cashmere,” Nelly Canepa, director at Allpa, told FashionUnited in
Berlin. The jumpers and cardigans at her stand have the qualities of Baby
Alpaca and Superfine. Like Allpa, the company Raymisa also works with
artisans in Peru and, in recent years, has invested in machines in order to
be able to offer fine knitwear in addition to hand-knit products,
explained CEO Orlando Vasquez Kellhammer at the event.

For many years, alpacas in Peru, which have been raised for their wool
for thousands of years, were subject to a ban on exports. Today, nearly 80
per cent of the total alpaca population lives in Peru and produces 25,000
kilograms of wool per year. Communities in the Andes raise the animals;
their wool is then collected, selected and classified by middlemen. They
sell the wool to yarn manufacturers in Peru, who supply manufacturers in
the country. As a result, value creation takes place mainly within a single
country, which is rare in today’s globalised clothing industry.

Pima: baby soft cotton

The value creation chain for cotton in Peru is similar. Manufacturers
such as Quale Vest, Corp. All Cotton or Kusa Cotton represented at the
sourcing event all work with Pima cotton that is grown in Peru. Michael
Chabaneix, CEO of the GOTS certified business Corp All Cotton, which
manufactures for US brands like Tory Burch and Rag & Bones, hopes to
acquire more European customers in Berlin. “The Pima cotton fibres are the
longest-stapled in the world, which means they are particularly soft and
fine,” he explains. He also displays a t-shirt with a coarse structure made
of tangüis. It is a type of cotton, which, though not as fine, is more
affordable than Pima and requires less water.

Like raising alpacas, the cotton industry in Peru can also look back on
the advanced culture of the Incas. “The Peruvians have been weaving for a
very long time, since the beginning of civilisation,” noted Elmer Schialer,
the Peruvian ambassador in Berlin during the event. “One of the so-called
centres of civilisation was found in the valley of Supe in southern Peru
where the Peruvians were already gathering cotton 8000 years ago.”

Peru has set itself apart through its stories and quality. As a small
producer of high-quality, but also higher priced raw materials like Pima
cotton and alpaca wool, the country must position itself in the premium
segment of the clothing industry. This specialisation and filling of a
niche also helps keep income in the country, explained Schialer. “We are
attempting to keep the bulk of value creation in Peru.”

FashionUnited attended the event at the invitation of the
organisers.

Photo: Karina Mendoza / PROMPERÚ