Justice and Gratitude are part of Paços de Ferreira's DNA.

On the 6th of November, on the occasion of the 180th anniversary of our Municipality, the company Petratex- Confeções, S.A. will be awarded the Municipal Medal of Honor.

Founded in 1989 in Portugal, Petratex, SA is a company that develops its activity in several areas of the textile sector and that has acquired a leadership position in the industry thanks to the successful combination of efforts between its manufacturing units in Portugal, Tunisia and Morocco, the latter aimed at the mass production of clothing, considered a standard product. Its keen business sense and know-how allow it to offer a wide range of products to a global audience, within its target markets: Fashion, Sports and High-tech.

Its factory in Paços de Ferreira produces the items with the most technological incorporation and with the highest added value, especially technical clothing, linked to the area of ​​health and high competition sports and haute couture for the elite of luxury brands of world fashion. This is where the entire creative process is centralized, from the development of new products, technological innovation, process improvement, even the management of the company itself.

At Petratex, they are continuously dedicated to the study and investigation of everything related to their industry, their market, their economic environment and, of course, their more than 170 customers.

This is the result of a mindset focused on continuous improvement and innovation.

This is the result of a mindset focused on continuous improvement and innovation.

We remember articles published in newspapers and magazines, of national and international prestige, such as WWD Wednesday (which, in 2005, reported the huge success of T-shirts without sewing threads, marketed by Nike, but designed and manufactured by Petratex, in Paços de Ferreira, according to the “NoSew” technique, developed by the latter over three years) or Time (which, in 2008, echoed the successive records, beaten at the Beijing Olympic Games by Michael Phelps, swimmer in the USA, using a fiber suit – The LZR Racer, marketed by Speedo, a product with great technological incorporation, the result of international cooperation, but also manufactured in Paços de Ferreira by Petratex), which gained the company notoriety and made it the main center of interest of the textile giants and the fashion and sports elite.

It was with this winning mentality, this continuous search for excellence, instilled by its shareholder and CEO of the company, Commander Sérgio Neto, that got around the problem of relocating the production of the major brands, its customers, to the Asian continent (in period between 1995 and 2005, during which the ATC-Agreement on Textiles and Clothing sectoral agreement was in force and China joined the WTO (2001)), being forced to look in the segment of technical clothing and the production of luxury for haute couture considerable competitive advantages over its direct competitors, a strategy that earned it a growing increase in turnover (in 2002 it was less than 25 million euros, rising in 2015 to a value above 65 million euros) as a result of a growing increase in sales volume, where about 98% of its production is destined for export.

This new differentiating positioning, combined with a policy of permanent enhancement of its human capital (Peratex currently has 591 employees and generates more than 2,500 indirect jobs, through sub-contracting) has earned the company Awards Export & Employment, such as the one awarded to it in Lisbon in 2013, an initiative of BES and Jornal de Negócios, in partnership with Coface and McKinsey & Company, as a result of the selection made among 3,700 competing companies.

It is a company with social responsibility and environmental concerns. In addition to the continuous investment in the training component, providing its employees with opportunities for personal and professional growth, the company listens to its employees prior to making major management decisions (measures aimed at reducing the ecological footprint, adoption of strategies to reduce the energy bill , remodeling and/or expansion of facilities, setting annual goals and training schedules are scrutinized by the collective), providing them with pleasant working conditions (ergonomic and functional furniture, well-decorated and attractive workspaces, with natural light), provides them with spaces for socializing and well-being (gym, canteen with healthy, varied and balanced meals, several coffee-break areas, green spaces), private car parks, with 24-hour surveillance, and occupational medicine for monitoring the health status of employees).

Within the scope of environmental responsibility, the company uses energy efficient equipment and technologies (solar panels that cover the entire production unit and allow it to reduce the energy bill by about 30%, use of technology lamps LED), a biomass boiler that allows it to reduce annual CO2 emissions by 662 tons, in addition to instilling in its employees a culture of responsible energy management at the company level.
This is, therefore, a company that not only gives national and international prestige to the economic sector it represents, but also raises the name of Paços de Ferreira on other stages in the world, being, therefore, a reason for admiration and esteem on the part of all the people of São Paulo and , as such, deserving of public recognition.