The plant’s geographical location will give Nextil Group access to the mass production market in competition with Asian suppliers, enabling it to obtain a return on items that are currently deficit, securing maximum efficiency in logistics and distribution, with preferential tariff arrangements, the company said in a media release.

With an overall investment of €40 million, the new production plant will have 350 local employees on its payroll and this number will grow as the pace of production steps up. The plant will also train Guatemala university students who wish to go into the textile sector. The Spanish group will keep welfare and social responsibility benefits on a par with production plants in the EU or US, including a health clinic, company store with credits, monthly grocery bag and a fund for loans to employees.

The industrial plant will optimise its cost structure in line with other plants in the group and will maintain the certifications of origin for its products, thanks to the agreements arranged by this Central American country. Guatemala has EUR1 certification, by virtue of which it can preserve the origin of goods from both Europe and the US, in turn obtaining preferential treatment on entry to those markets.

Nextil Group will maintain its existing production plants in Spain and the US for value-added specialties, for the development of new products and for local and commercial logistics.

"We want to get into a market that is currently inaccessible for us due to the cost structure, while keeping our existing plants for value-added products and the development of new collections in Spain,” said Manuel Martos, the general manager of Nextil.

The industrial group will build a state-of-the-art factory. In keeping with its policy of environmental commitment, the textile group's new plant will implement a plan to maintain a low carbon footprint and incorporate cutting-edge machinery and advanced systems in energy saving, rainwater treatment and reuse of resources, among others, the release said.

The basic principle of the Greendyes dyeing method will also be applied at this new plant. This dyeing process patented by the group features low water consumption, no toxic products and execution at ambient temperature, thereby considerably reducing energy consumption.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)