With technical products accounting already about 20% of the turnover of around 7.5 million euros, Fiorima continues to leverage its growth strategy in innovation. Recently, it launched on the market BiCoSiCa, a concept of high performance sock which includes bio ceramic, carbon, copper and silver, enhancing bacteriostatic properties, antistatic, temperature and humidity management, among others. «This is innovative on a way: the market presents these items alone and we can match and show that the properties inherent to each of these elements entering the sock bring added value», explained Paulo Rodrigues, industrial director of Fiorima, in an article published in Jornal Têxtil’s April issue.
The novelties of the company, which employs 89 people, also include a new product with LEDs. «We have presented LED in the beginning of this year to some clients and they saw several possibilities in the product», said the industrial director. Fiorima also embedded LEDs in cuffs, creating products that, according to Paul Rodrigues, «not only beautify and turn out to be an important part of fashion, but they are also an opportunity from a security point of view».
Fashion, moreover, is not overlooked by the company, based in Braga, which recently introduced a printing technique in three dimensions. «So far, the market had a major difficulty associated with printing in 2D, which created a manufacturing defect in the union of graphics. With this solution we were able to eliminate this defect», underlined the industrial director. The technology was made-to-measure and, although he believes that may soon emerge in other competitors, «for now is ours and we always want to stay one step ahead of what the market offers», he highlighted.
Fiorima’s portfolio on technical products also includes articles in the medical field. «We have partnered with a Portuguese company, Smart Inovation, and it was a protocol that worked very well, because we can leverage the socks with a medical component, not only for athlete’s foot, for the diabetic foot and chilblains, but also for repellence to mosquitoes, which had a great receptiveness», revealed Paulo Rodrigues.
