Lithuanian Apparel and Textile Industry Association           

Saltoniškių str. 29/3, LT-08105 Vilnius- 4, Lithuania.
Ph. +370 5 2790131, 2751877, 2721323, fax: + 370 5 2721127
E-mail: latia@latia.lt,  http://www.latia.lt

A bridge between West and East Lithuania has been known as a high quality production country with long traditions in apparel and textile industry. We believe that you have heard of that but it is also worth to tell that the industry has vastly developed and transformed here over the last years. Now Lithuania is no more just a simple production, it is capable to offer more sophisticated services which can bring further savings to Western textile and fashion companies even if some of the production is still done in the Far East.

At our annual exhibition „Baltic textile + leather“ which will be held on the 14 - 16 th of October in Vilnius this year we are opening a meeting point where Western companies can meet Lithuanian textile and clothing companies who can supply all from sewing services, but in high quality and short lead time, to delivery of fully finished products, various sourcing tools, logistic services, finishing, storage, packaging, etc.

Some companies are developing their own collections, but also interested in teaming up with Western fashion and trading companies. The visitors can as well meet potential partners from the Baltic States, Russia, Ukraine representing import and retail companies who are interested in being presented for new trends and collections from the Western Europe and which could be imported and sold in their local markets.

You can find more information about the fair on the website www.baltictextile.eu

 Trends in the Baltic States  A preliminary research done by our association has shown that in the period of economic and financial recession some European companies are coming back from the Far East and start looking for new production sources located closer to their European markets. A number of interviewed companies revealed that this sourcing strategy is expected to help them to overcome some problems caused by the economic crisis like: difficulties getting bank loans, higher risk in keeping big stocks or placing larger orders in the Far East. Niche markets, more specialized products, smaller quantities, fast delivery, production flexibility and overall cost reduction are becoming the key drivers for new partnership relations in Europe. Our latest discussions with the Scandinavian and UK businessmen showed that they would be also interested in finding wider forms of cooperation with their potential suppliers in Europe. This could be seen as joint projects developing new products and services, marketing and sales campaigns selling into some target markets like Russia and other CIS countries or jointly exploit the benefits of EU structural funds for the export development programs. On the other hand, the suppliers and producers in the Baltic States are forced to continue with the cost reduction, production and management efficiency improvement, supply chain optimization and new product development solutions even more actively. It also seems that the new economic realities make companies from different corners of a supply chain to become more pro-active and launch new projects together.

Lithuania in the light of recent global economic and financial challenges Lithuania has improved its competitiveness in the last 12 months and moved up the ladder by 5 places up to the 31 out of the 57 countries ranking, beating Estonia for the 1st time and leaving other neighboring economies far behind, shows the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2009. The results of the Stress Test executed by IMD World Competitiveness Centre also reveal that Lithuania is better equipped to fare through the crisis and improve its competitiveness in the near future than its neighbours.  According to this future oriented test, Lithuanian economy is more resilient to the world recession than Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Russia.  Lithuania has witnessed a big leap forward in government efficiency, moving up from 36 to 25 and business efficiency as well as improving ratings in infrastructure category.

Lithuanian apparel and textile industry Lithuanian apparel and textile industry association unites 128 members who are the key players in the sector, but around 1000 companies related to clothing, textile and leather business are operating in the market. The sector mainly consists of SMEs companies evolved in production of a wide range of apparel and textile articles: fashionable clothing, protective, sports, leisure wear, technical textiles, linen, home and interior textile, upholstery fabrics, knitwear, underwear, fur, leather, ecological textiles, etc. The value of the goods produced has been remaining more or less stable over the last few years and makes around 1 billion EUR per year. About 80 % of the products and services are being exported mainly to EU countries: Sweden, UK, Germany, Denmark, France, Norway, Finland, Belgium.  

The strengths of the Lithuanian clothing and textile companies:

•  Ability to act as a partner and adviser in a product development, prototyping, production and logistic process.
•  Capabilities of making professional technical design, preparation of technical documentation and procedures necessary for efficient and cost saving production.
•  Ability to plan, organize and control full production cycle and logistics not only in house but also in Belarusia, Ukraine, Moldova and Far East.  
• Access to the Russian and other CIS markets.
• Understanding of mentality of European and Western countries and large network of contacts on both sides enables to expand partnership possibilities beyond traditional cooperation limits.
• Access to EU structural funds for the export development and efficiency improvement programs.
• Production flexibility.
•   High quality.

INFORMATION ABOUT LITHUANIAN APPAREL AND TEXTILE INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION