Madrid-headquartered Nextil Group is to open a new fabric production plant in Guatemala, a country with a long tradition in textiles. The plant, with an area of 25,000 m2, is expected to come on stream in the first quarter of 2023.

The group – one of the largest in Europe –manufactures fabrics and garments for clothing, swimwear, sports, lingerie and medical apparel and has production centres in Spain, Portugal and the United States.

The new plant is to be strategically sited just 30 minutes from the city of Guatemala, with easy access to both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as the Pan-American road, providing easy connections with all continents. Its 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 and securing maximum efficiency in logistics and distribution, with preferential tariff arrangements.

With an overall investment of €40 million, the new plant will have 350 local employees and this number will grow as the pace of production steps up. It will also train Guatemala university students who wish to enter the textile sector and welfare and social responsibility benefits will be on a par with production plants in the EU or USA and include a health clinic, company store, monthly grocery bag and a funding for loans to employees.

Nextil will maintain the certifications of origin for its products, thanks to the agreements arranged by Guatemala, which has EUR1 certification, via it can preserve the origin of goods from both Europe and the United States, in turn obtaining preferential treatment on entry to those markets.

“This was unquestionably one of the key factors when choosing the location for our new production plant”, said Manuel Martos, the group’s general manager.

Nextil Group will maintain its existing production plants in Spain and the USA 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 Martos.

www.nextil.com