Czech textile companies weave success story

Photo: Jai79, Pixabay / CC0

Czech textile and clothing companies last year recorded their best results in the past 12 years, the daily Hospodářské noviny wrote on Thursday.

Photo: Jai79,  Pixabay / CC0
In 2017 Czech companies sold fibres, textiles and clothing worth 55.3 billion crowns, according to a survey carried out by the Czech Association of Textile, Clothing and Leather Industries (ATOK).

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.

“The growth suggests a close interconnection between the textile industry and other fields. It is clearly driven by the auto industry, which uses textiles for the production of many of its components,” the head of the Czech Association of Textile, Clothing and Leather Industries, Jiří Česal, told the daily Hospodářské noviny.

At the moment, technical textiles make up two thirds of global textile production and experts say their significance will continue to grow.

Jiří Česal,  photo: Czech Association of Textile,  Clothing and Leather Industries
According to Jiří Česal, seven out of the country’s top 10 textile producers manufacture technical textile. The Czech Republic’s number one is Juta, which produces unwoven textiles for the building industry and agriculture, followed by nappies producer Pegas Nonwovens.

According to the study carried out by the Czech Association of Textile, Clothing and Leather Industry, Textile and Clothing Associations last year recruited new employees and increased their salaries. Wages increased on average by more than seven percent, with workers in textile companies achieving an average wage of 24,000 crowns.

Just like in other fields, however, Czech textile and clothing companies are facing a serious lack of workers.

Czechoslovakia used to be a textile and clothing industry power, but in the 1990s most of the country’s companies went bankrupt due to cheap imports from Asia. Many abandoned textile factories can still be seen in the border regions of the Czech Republic.