Will LasryFounder, Glass Factory · 1.5M+ Online | Vogue 100 Innovators

Portuguese Factory’s Secret to Growth

30 May 2025 · 1 min

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In this short interview, the speaker reflects on the recent wave of textile factory closures in Portugal and explains why his own factory has been able to grow year after year. He attributes the broader industry struggle to legacy business models that enforce rigid production rules, making it hard to adapt when large customers reduce orders. His factory counters this by staying flexible—shifting production between large and smaller clients depending on demand—and by maintaining consistently courteous, respectful communication with every client. He argues that this combination of operational flexibility and strong client relationships is the secret to sustained growth in a challenging market.

Chapters

Last year we have a lot of textile companies closing or ending door and we are growing each year. Why do you think that factories are struggling in Portugal right now? I think they have the problem that the origin of company have strict rules that nowadays you need to avoid them. You need to be more flexible. Not all the big clients don't have like, okay, if you have 100,000 you need to produce, come here, and if you have 50, go find another supplier. No, when the bigger one are not producing, maybe the smaller one are producing. So this make you keep going and going and going and increasing each year. We have this kind of flexibility. The one thing that we implemented and being very strict on that, nicest communication with clients all the time. I believe that the secret of success, getting some nice communication with your client and respect their job and your job.