Post-pandemic and suffering the consequences of the current war context, the textile, clothing and fashion industry continues to prove its resilience and resourcefulness. Focused more than ever on the challenges and potential of the technology and digitalisation demanded by Industry 4.0, it is heading towards the future with a sustainable awareness. However, one of the greatest obstacles remains: the lack of skilled labour. It is precisely in this context that the importance of Modatex stands out. A training centre of national scope that, in the words of its director, José Manuel Castro, embraces the mission of “mobilising people to fill the needs of the sector: both those who are already there and those who will be.”

Born in 2011, Modatex is the result of a protocol signed between the Textile and Clothing Association of Portugal (ATP), the Portuguese Association of Clothing and Apparel Industries (ANIVEC/APIV), the Portuguese Wool Textile Association (ANIL) and the Institute of Employment and Professional Training (IEFP). Modatex — with its head office in Porto, delegations in Lisbon and Covilhã and branches in Vila das Aves and Barcelos — has added to legacy the challenge of attracting and training new and existing professionals who make up this mega sector of global importance. During the final preparations for the start of a new school year, the director of Modatex welcomes us to the head office of the professional training centre for the textile, clothing, apparel and wool industry in Porto. 

A trained psychologist, specialising in vocational education and training, José Manuel Castro took over the direction of the training centre in 2018, although he had been the Chair of the Board of Directors since its inception. Therefore, he is best placed to present this renowned fashion school and reflect on its aims and challenges for the future.

PRINÇIPAL As Director and former Chairman of the Board of Directors, you know better than anyone how Modatex began.

Modatex is the result of the merger of three centres of the textile and clothing industry: CITEX (Porto), CIVEC (Lisbon) and CILAN (Covilhã). Three centres which, although not directly, competed for the same audience and overlapped on some issues, decided to merge on 30 June 2011 to make way for a new national body. On 1 July of the same year, Modatex was born, uniting the legacy of over 30 years of each of these organisations, whilst keeping the facilities and human resources.

Today, Modatex is a unique national training centre, based in Porto, but with a scale and muscle of national scope. In terms of volume, number of students and even budget, there are currently 28 centres of this type for industry sectors. Modatex occupies second place, due to the significance it represents for the Portuguese industry and is only surpassed by the metalworking sector. This large centre seeks to have a much broader understanding of and involvement in the national territory, both in terms of the audiences and the companies in the sector, as well as the different areas it covers.

PRINÇIPAL What was the main purpose of this union?

In a practical and concise way, we are a training centre of the Portuguese State that seeks, as its main objective, to mobilise people to fill the needs of the sector: both those who are already there and those who are yet to be. The mission of Modatex is to contribute to a better strategic and operational coordination of training in the sector, to respond more effectively to the demands for qualifications, improvement and retraining of people and organisations, as well as to provide close technical support to all the players in the textile, clothing and fashion industry.

PRINÇIPAL What does the Modatex training encompass?

Modatex provides an average annual volume of one million hours of training. This volume is the result of the number of people we have here multiplied by the number of training hours they have had at Modatex. It is a considerable amount, if you think about it. The courses have a pre-established program set by the Portuguese State, through the national qualifications system, and they take place in three modalities: classroom-based, distance learning and hybrid (classroom and distance learning).

Fashion design is a flagship course that attracts the public. Our training courses extend to the entire textile industry, in its most diverse areas, from the more traditional courses in pattern making, tailoring and manufacturing to the more recent ones, such as 3D modelling, digital marketing and e-commerce and international trade.

We also have very interesting projects in terms of international relations, which allow our young people to train for a longer or shorter period in foreign schools, companies and factories. These are very enriching life experiences, in countries where fashion may have a different interpretation. This year we will already have around 40 young people travelling.

PRINÇIPAL How are these areas of training distributed throughout the regions that Modatex covers?

The school has a number of training courses that are similar in terms of structure, content and curriculum, but it also offers courses that are distinctly regional in nature. For example, Barcelos and Vila das Aves are our training centres that are closer to the so-called “factory floor” and, therefore, respond to a set of needs of the sector. To have an idea, 70% of the students in these centres are already employed. That is, only 30% require qualification and preparation courses to be able to work in a profession in the sector; whereas the 70% seek improvement or advancement in the companies where they are already employed. These people either take into account the needs of the company or they decide, on their own initiative, to take a course from our curriculum in their own time.

Whilst the “industry floor” of Vila das Aves is weaving, that of Covilhã is clearly the wool industry. In Lisbon, in addition to long-term courses in areas that have remained since the time of the old CIVEC, such as fashion design and production, the greatest demand is for atelier courses. These are 150 or 200 hour courses, specialised in specific garment types and techniques, such as wedding dresses, swimwear, lingerie, kidswear, among others, especially in terms of pattern making. Interestingly, of all the centres that make up Modatex, Lisbon is the most sought after by young people.

There is almost a demonisation of the textile and clothing industry, of its past and even some undeserved infamy. In fact, Porto is a special case, inheriting the legacy and history of the former CITEX and presenting an extensive range of training courses. The more “traditional” courses, among which are fashion design, pattern making, sewing, tailoring, are very much oriented towards individual projects. The training centre in Porto carries on this tradition. A legacy that also has a current relevance. Our graduates are very good and fashion design is, as I said, a flagship course. We are a fashion school, with a professional designation that was successively adopted by higher education.

PRINÇIPAL Despite being a professional training centre, Modatex is also highly sought after school by fashion designers. People who, despite having completed higher education, seek a more technical side to their learning.

We see this a lot. People with a master’s degree in fashion design who come to Modatex to do a course. In fact, we have already had courses where more than half of the participants had a degree or even a master’s in fashion design and wanted to stay on for another three years to learn. Because here they learn to think and create from start to finish, to master all the processes.

Also because we have instructors who are still working and are renowned, who are very demanding and precise regarding the quality of the execution of the piece.

But this does not only happen in fashion design. We had, for example, people in the pattern making course with 20–year careers in management. The same happened in the last tailoring course, in which we also had three lawyers and a psychologist. These are people whose goal in life is to acquire certain skills. Through our training we try to mobilise students towards autonomous, mature, quasi-vocational, investment processes.

There is a lot of “vocation”. Not in the sense of the word “vocational” in French, which is the guiding light that attracts us to something from a young age, but more in the “vocational” sense in English, meaning profession, what I like to do, almost a life project in which I want to invest. And that is always surprising for us. More than teaching, I think we manage to create conditions for our students to learn, mobilise and gain new skills.

We also work with less academically qualified students, who are generally older. And, of course, there are also many younger students who come to us for professional training and who come from other schools to complete their education in fashion.

PRINÇIPAL Is it this ‘know-how’, this technical specialisation, that attracts students to Modatex?

I often try to understand what people are looking for. I think they are seeking a kind of power: the power to transform! Our students can conceive, they can create.

They have to take ownership, they have to master the process of producing the piece and the final result depends on them. Otherwise, they feel that the work is incomplete, that it is imperfect. There is a will, a feeling of overcoming, of being self-reliant and of being able to do what they plan to do.

As an example, last year, one of our students won the top prize in the ModaPortugal Fashion Design Competition, a competition involving fashion students from six countries, from eight prestigious fashion schools and faculties in Europe. It’s something that has to be valued. Of course, when they win they shine the brightest, but the school also shines: our instructors shine, the conditions that we have, the fact that they have access to sophisticated technology, access to all kinds of material to work with, access to autonomous spaces to work on their projects. It is also important to mention that, besides presenting something that is visible, tangible, they have excellent and surprising narratives about the pieces.

I often say that some pieces should be presented publicly for us to discuss, because the concepts they present are amazing. I remember vividly a student who documented gender based violence in a piece. Basically, it consisted of the intersection between a first piece, white and “cute”, which a moment later, was completely overshadowed by a leather jacket, hard, with studs. This sense of the aggressor, of violence, of the victim who disappears, gave rise to a great deal of discussion. This happens a lot, especially in the areas of fashion design and pattern making. Our students are really powerful creators.

PRINÇIPAL Attracting qualified labour in certain areas of the textile and clothing industry is one of the sector’s greatest challenges. How can Modatex contribute to counteract this trend?

You only have to watch the news to hear entrepreneurs saying that they don’t have workers for the sector. And we feel that tension. But we are in an ecosystem. We have interdependencies between regions, between people, between services that help unemployed people, between companies in the sector that have a stronger or weaker reputation as well as there being some scars from the past. Plus there is the challenge of attracting young people, which is the most complex part.

Attracting people to the sector depends on these three elements working in harmony: Firstly, the organisation of the job centres, which manage the flow of employees and the unemployed and who must help us further. Secondly, the companies, who have their share of responsibility for attracting people, and who should actually be the strongest pole of attraction. Thirdly, we ourselves as a school have to attract people and bring them into contact with us. That is our great challenge, to draw people to us.

PRINÇIPAL How can people, particularly young people, be attracted to the school and the textile, clothing and fashion sector?

On the Modatex Board of Directors the three associations — ATP, ANIVEC and ANIL — are equally represented so through them we receive feedback and clear information about the needs identified by the sector.

We still need to build and realise a project, which is being addressed in some international projects and events, specifically to attract people to the sector. It is challenging to make it cool to work in the textile and clothing industry.

This is definitely the great challenge and it’s a challenge that should belong to everyone and not only to us as a training centre. It is a project that will have to involve a partnership between interlocutors such as business associations, training centres and technology centres. A project that anticipates what is coming. It is clear that the metaverse is coming, it is clear that digital is coming, but it must also leverage highly technological issues related to bio, to the creation of processes and products, to international trade, among many others.

PRINÇIPAL How has Modatex adapted and prepared itself for these future challenges?

There are various things beyond the horizon of what is visible, what is tactile. We are working on that too. We are interested in being prepared for what is to come, such as the issues related to digital, sustainability, 3D, the metaverse.

We have a high investment process underway, which includes equipment, technical improvement and spacial improvement. We are also very focused on the issue of sustainability and energy efficiency. 3D modelling is the thing that is most ready to join our permanent physical resources.

I’m not going to say that everything is extraordinary. Modatex has its shortcomings, its inaccuracies, we have the imperfection of being imperfect. That is the funny thing about systems, if they are perfect then they are also very boring. But we also try to adjust them, we try to anticipate the issues that we cannot yet understand, with the resources and means that we have. It’s hard work and we feel the enormous contribution of our instructors:

We also have a group of young creative people, in an outsourcing regime, who are constantly informing us about the new issues that are arising. They work every day to anticipate and solve problems and encourage us to think from a more technological and sustainable point of view, in terms of the equipment and materials we have to invest in. We get a lot of input from them, because although the sector gives us feedback, we need people in-house to identify and give solutions to what the market is asking for.

PRINÇIPAL In the last issue of Prinçipal, we visited Petratex, which has a team entirely dedicated to creating clothing for the virtual universe. How is Modatex preparing itself to respond to the demands of the metaverse?

The textile and clothing industry depends on tangible products, which exist, which we touch, which we sell physically. But these days the industry has many “R”s and it starts right away with refuse, with not buying. Then there are many others. Recycle, reuse, energy recovery, repair... At the same time, you are looking at the market of intangibles and this is a huge market: gaming is a market of many millions, not to mention virtual products that do not exist in reality and are sold anyway as unique products, the NFTs. Knowing that the industry is asking us for skilled labour for digital, we have to look at that and adapt our training.

Very soon, we will be testing new systems. We are now introducing a new system, the CLO, which is a very powerful system that creates pieces, shows and environments in 3D. It was requested by our designers, so we already have the licensing contracts and our instructors are learning the new software so that we can introduce this new tool in our teaching. I am talking about this step, but we are also taking others, in particular in terms of new printing processes and digital models.

You must also understand that we are a training centre and, therefore, we will never have a machine like the ones in a large factory that makes thousands of pieces in minutes. The challenge is to find a machine that has a pedagogical nature, on which one can learn and allows experimenting, exploring, inventing, creating.

PRINÇIPAL Will these new tools be taught in specific courses or integrated into existing ones?

We will have to live with both at the same time. It is easier to start with more specific training, with the resources we have, because we do not yet have all the necessary technology. But although we don’t have all the expertise yet, we have people with us who do and who are already testing it, both from the perspective of the various new forms of digital communication and the new questions that arise in terms of the metaverse.

PRINÇIPAL How do you see the future of Modatex?

We have a large field to experiment, to explore, to risk. The problem is to ensure the continuity of these matters, because, as is the case in the textile and clothing industry, we have a deficit of highly qualified young people as professionals at Modatex. This difficulty is related to the fact that these young people no longer want to work in a traditional framework of having a boss, working full-time from 9am to 5pm at a specific location.

The average age of Modatex workers is 53, not forgetting that we have people who have been working here for over 30 years. Considering that we are getting older every day, we are planning a recruitment campaign in the near future in order to keep the staff we already have and attract new talent. We need young people to join us who will be management of this organisation in the future. ♦

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