A collaborative Portuguese project known as Picasso has received an accolade for a coloration and functionalisation process for clothing based on mushroom and plant extracts and enzymes. The Portuguese partners involved in the project are the Centre for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials (CeNTI), sustainable textile company Tintex, spice and herb producer Ervital, bio-technoogy specialists Bioinvitro Biotecnologia and textile technology centre CITEVE.

This new dyeing process cuts water consumption drastically.

“We’re really proud. Portugal took part in Techtextil for the first time 16 years ago. Since then, we’ve succeeded in gaining international recognition and in making it to the top,” states Braz Costa, General Manager at CITEVE.

Paulo Vaz, Director General of Portuguese textile and clothing association Associacao Textil e Vestuário de Portugal:

“The Portuguese textile and apparel industry currently constitutes a dynamic cluster, organised predominantly in the northern coastal region of the country. Companies from all sections of the industry – be it weaving, finishing, knitting, clothing, home or technical textiles – successfully complement each other, creating synergies and also enjoying strong support from a well-established science and technology network, dominated by the textile and apparel technology centre CITEVE and the centre for nanotechnology and advanced materials CeNTI. Northwest Portugal has grown into what is today Europe’s biggest textiles region.”