The Czech Republic has a long history of the textile sector. Czech textile industry had established itself at the core of manufacturing already in the Habsburg Austrian Empire. Although the country experienced some ups and downs in the textile sector over the years, the industry still plays an important role in the Czech Republic. When the Czech Republic was still part of Czechoslovakia, it used to have a powerful textile and clothing industry, but with the economic growth in Asia in the 1990s, most of the country’s companies went bankrupt due to cheap imports. There are still many abandoned textile factories in the border regions of the Czech Republic. However, the textile and clothing industry is experiencing a revival in recent years using the latest technology such as nano-textile.
In 2017, the Czech textile companies sold fibers, textiles, and clothing worth 55.3 billion crowns, according to ATOK. That year Czech textile and clothing companies recorded their best results in the past 12 years. The results were fuelled mainly by the fast-growing economy and by the focus on technical textiles, which are used in the automobile industry, agriculture, health care, and aviation according to Jiří Česal, the head of the Czech Association of Textile, Clothing and Leather Industries.
At the moment, technical textiles make up ⅔ of the global textile production, and their significance will continue to grow. In general, there are 393 textile businesses in the Czech Republic at the moment. The number of textile and clothing businesses has been decreasing for some time (56 percent decrease since 2004).
The development of prices of clothes and footwear in the Czech Republic has been significantly influenced by the growing imports from Asian countries. Prices of the products continued to grow until 1999. What followed was a slow and protracted decrease, which only came to a halt in 2014. In 2017, the price level of footwear and clothes was at 90 percent of 1995. Furthermore, the development of prices of footwear and clothes had a different trend, when compared to the development of prices of other goods and services.
Textile and clothing export/import
Over the existence of the independent Czech Republic, (since 1993) export of textile and clothing products from the Czech Republic has been mostly growing. The volume of textile exports grew by 281 % between 1993 and 2017 and the volume of clothing export grew by 540 % in the same period. In this year (2017) the volume of exports reached EUR 2.5 billion worth of textile products representing 592,545 tons of goods. In clothing articles, the volume of exports was EUR 2.1 billion equaling to 78,643 tons.
Textile and clothing import While trends in the export of textile and clothing products are basically identical, the same cannot be said about imports into the Czech Republic. From the early 2000s, however, import of clothing saw a dramatic increase, and the higher dynamics of clothing import, when compared to textiles, have been the reality until now with the increase in imports increasing even further since 2013. Compared to 1993, the volume of clothing imports grew almost eight times. Most likely, the reason is China joining WTO, Czech Republic joining the EU and Schengen Area.
Textile companies in the Czech Republic
Association of Textile-Clothing and Leather Industry (ATOK) is a nonprofit organization that combines legal entities and private owners within the Czech textile and clothing industries. Within the organization, there are manufacturers, research institutes, schools, and business organizations of the sector. The Association was founded in 1990 and serves as a classic employer‘s union. It focuses on many educational/non-education projects, promoting cooperation in the field of science and research and networking with other companies inside and outside the EU.
Textile Industry in the Czech Republic
ČTPT
Czech Technology Platform for Textiles creates a connection between the European Technology Platform for the future of textiles and clothing (ETP) and the Czech textiles and clothing industry. ČTPT’s objectives follow the objectives of the ETP, the mission of ČTPT is the creation of such an innovative environment in order to enable the qualitative and quantitative growth of innovation activities of Czech textiles and clothing plants. ČTPT aims to ensure the long-term competitiveness of the Czech textiles and clothing industry.
CLUTEX
Cluster of Technical Textiles unites Czech companies focusing on creating technical fabric. It concentrates particularly on the cooperation in the area of national and international projects for research and development, and education. It promotes the prestige of Czech firms and the Czech textile industry. The company believes that the sector can be more profitable by investing in higher-quality production through R&D and increased productivity of workers.
AZPO
AZPO Group has been in the traditional textile business since 1993 in the Czech Republic. It mainly produces covers for the seats in cars, trucks or trains, covers for the baby prams, full child seats, baby bags, textile toys, pillows, textile mops, terry bathrobes and towels, bicycle wear, the special orders for Czech Army, luxury bed linen. A part of the production is the hosiery where knitwears are made under brand i-TEX for the next process in producing. AZPO Group s.r.o. gives job opportunities to disabled people. The company has created several smaller workplaces where workers can do their job adapted to their health condition and employed 60 disabled workers.
Conclusion
Although the textile and clothing industry has experienced a slowdown in the Czech Republic since the 1990s, it has been prosperous in recent years. With the increase of the technical textile sector over traditional, the country created a lot of opportunities for both local and international textile companies. The development of the sector will rely on skilled and competent employees with high-tech and unique product development with the “Strategy of the Czech Textile and Clothing Industry till 2025.” Would you like to invest in the textile-clothing sector in the Czech Republic? Yeye Agency can assist you in your goal at any stage of company formation/expansion.
