Farewell fast fashion startups textile world consider pandemic has put sustainability at the center of the equation, but warn of a change in the business model - The textile industry has understood that it has to be the definitive impulse for sustainability and the challenge ahead of the sector is not minuscule.

The data support the leave of the textile industry in the environment. In fact, the State of Fashion 2020 report by the consultancy McKinsey & Company revealed that fashion represented between 20% and 35% of the microplastics that end up invading the oceans around the world.

However-and contrary to what one might think—, the complex socio-economic context caused by COVID-19 seems to have been the definitive impulse. During a virtual meeting organized by Banco Sabadell and Startup Valencia on the smart fashion of the future, founders of different startups in the textile world agree that the pandemic has put sustainability at the center of the equation.

"The pandemic has made us take a step back, to take 2 steps forward," says Raúl González, CEO of Ecodicta, a company that focuses its business model on the service of renting clothes by monthly subscription.

In this sense, González believes that the current situation has caused the user to feel and reflect more than ever about what they want and what they don't. "People no longer consume clothes without more, and therefore, we have to endow this fact as a true experience," he says.

Farewell fast fashion startups textile world consider pandemic

For her part, Carmen Silla, Marketing Director of Jeanologia, agrees that leaving aside the initial break and the fall in sales, the pandemic has accelerated the need to advance in the field of sustainability and digitalization.

"Fashion is how you identify when you dress, but do not forget that it has a very high environmental impact," explains Silla, whose company is very clear about its mission. Jeanologia, which provides services to firms such as Levi's and Pepe Jeans and textile giants such as Inditex, develops technology to produce textiles minimizing its impact on the planet: during 2020 it saved more than 15.4 million cubic meters of water.

"All the pandemic we have experienced I think has served to put values at the center," says Federico Sainz, CEO of the textile company Sepiia. The entrepreneur considers that the current situation has forced the paradigm shift and has done so in all its aspects.

Farewell fast fashion startups textile world consider pandemic

Silla believes that the future goes through production on demand: "Countries like Bangladesh or Pakistan will make the garment and the finish will be close to the consumer". The management of the Valencian company considers that the technologies that are being implemented today are those that will make this change of mentality possible.

"We run away from the trend world, from that specific garment that you are going to wear one day for the Instagram photo," says the founder of Sepiia. The mission of the company is to create durable garments and therefore, conscious with the planet that surrounds them. "Our commitment is to produce fewer garments, but that do not lose their value because they have gone out of fashion," he adds.

Farewell fast fashion startups textile world consider pandemic: "Fashion as we know it today is going to disappear in 5 years", predicts Federico Sainz. The CEO believes that a 2 euro t-shirt can never be sustainable. Given this new scenario, he considers that the business model will have to"reconvert and go through many stages to achieve a balance".

"Everything will have to go through more transparency. Everyone has to start explaining what they are doing backstage," says Ramón Acín, CEO of Beston, a startup focused on clothing for the cold. In this sense, the manager emphasizes the importance of objectifying these advances with measurements and certifications.

"We must continue to bet on a business model with purpose, with positive impact and that puts the user in the center and on that, make all the decisions", Acín considers on the way forward.

For his part, from Sepiia, Federico Sainz concludes that clothing is a totally necessary product as well as the survival of the planet, which makes it an imperative need to seek a balance between both.

Farewell fast fashion startups textile world consider pandemic

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MásMóvil increases its revenues by 18% in the first quarter, to 527 million

Grupo MásMovil has presented its financial and commercial results for 2020 and its business figures at the end of the first quarter of 2021. The yellow operator has registered a year-on-year growth of 28% in contracted lines in all the brands that make it up (Yoigo, Pepephone, MASMOVIL, Lebara, Lycamobile, and Llamaya), and an increase of 15% in total revenue during the last year. The data for the first three months of the year confirm the positive trend of the group at a key moment for its expansion in Spain after the takeover bid launched on the Euskatel Group.

It is currently the fourth operator in volume of customers and network, which will be one of the candidates to get part of the 700 MHz frequencies that will be auctioned soon.

According to the statement issued by the company itself, during 2020, MásMóvil entered a total of 1,930 million euros, which is almost 15% more than the previous year. The gross operating profit or ebitda in 2020 reached 642 million euros (+37%), and ended the year with 11.5 million lines, of which 9.5 million corresponds to mobile lines and 1.9 million to fixed band. In this way, its year-on-year growth stands at 27%.

Along with these results, MásMóvil also gains muscle with the closure that they have chained in the first months of the year: revenues skyrocketed by 18% compared to the same period of 2020, and ebitda by 38% higher.

“We are very happy to maintain strong growth despite the special circumstances of the market and to have reached net zero carbon emissions by 2020, positioning ourselves as the first telecom operator in Europe to achieve such an achievement. We will continue to strive to continue to grow and improve the customer experience, " said Meinrad Spenger, CEO of MásMóvil.

Of the total 11.5 million lines of Grupo MásMóvil, 9.5 million are mobile lines and only 1.9 million are fixed broadband contracts. The company assures that it has a 4G coverage of 98.5% of the Spanish population.

As for mobile, postpaid services continue as its main commercial force, with 6.4 million lines.

The company has 80 MHz in the 3.5 GHz band to offer 5G services although it has not yet fully consolidated its position in this segment. For now, we offer 5G services in 340 Spanish towns in 39 of the 52 Spanish provinces.

The firm continues to wait for the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) to pronounce on the public takeover bid it launched for 100% of the Euskatel Group, worth almost 2,000 million euros.

The operation would confer to the teleco a network of customers very powerful in terms of volume and fidelity, that would delve into the good results of portabilidades recently known, where MásMóvil is one of the pointers. With this acquisition, the Group would reach 14 million customers throughout Spain.

The intention of the operator, as confirmed by Meinrad Spenger, CEO of MásMóvil, in an interview in Expansión, is to maintain the brands of the company of Basque origin, which currently has Euskaltel, Telecable and R.