European textile and clothing supply chains are operating in an increasingly complex environment, shaped by geopolitical instability, rising costs, regulatory pressure, raw material uncertainty, and the need for faster digital transformation. For small and medium-sized enterprises, these challenges are no longer distant risks: they directly affect planning, production, delivery times, margins, and competitiveness.
With this scenario in mind, on April 8th, 2026, the RISE-SME project held the workshop “How can your textile SME become more resilient?” at CITEVE, in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal. Organised by CITEVE and INESC TEC, the event brought together 34 representatives from companies, sectoral organisations, technology providers, and other key stakeholders from the textile and clothing ecosystem.
The workshop aimed to support textile SMEs in identifying critical dependencies, anticipating supply chain risks, and exploring practical solutions to strengthen resilience across their value chains. The session combined strategic discussion with a hands-on co-creation dynamic, allowing participants to move from diagnosis to action.
The first part of the event focused on the broader geopolitical and commercial context affecting the Portuguese textile and clothing industry. Germano de Almeida, specialist in international affairs, joined Ricardo Silva, President of ATP, and César Araújo, President of ANIVEC, for a discussion on global instability, trade tensions, tariffs, inflation, unfair competition, and the strategic positioning of European industry.
One of the key messages from the debate was the need for SMEs to prepare for a prolonged period of uncertainty.
Participants highlighted the importance of reducing dependency on single markets or jurisdictions, strengthening cooperation across the ecosystem, and competing through value, innovation, quality, brand differentiation, and proximity to key markets rather than price alone.
The discussion also addressed the role of technology in the future of the textile sector. Digitalisation, automation, artificial intelligence, data sharing, and advanced planning tools were identified as essential enablers for improving visibility, reducing costs, supporting better decision-making, and reinforcing the sector’s ability to respond to disruptions.
In the second part of the workshop, participants worked in groups to identify the main supply chain problems experienced by textile companies. Using structured co-creation tools, including an impact-effort matrix and a Supply Chain Resilience Canvas, the groups prioritised challenges and proposed possible responses adapted to the reality of SMEs.
The results showed that the most relevant challenges for the textile and clothing supply chain include dependence on external suppliers, demand volatility, low levels of digitalisation, skills gaps, and regulatory pressure. These challenges reflect structural vulnerabilities in risk anticipation, supply chain visibility, process integration, and long-term strategic response.
The workshop also revealed an important gap between the recognition of systemic challenges and the type of solutions most frequently proposed. While participants clearly identified structural risks, many responses still focused on short-term operational improvements. This reinforces the need for RISE-SME to continue supporting SMEs in moving from reactive approaches to more integrated resilience strategies based on technology, processes, collaboration, and human capital.
Several possible pathways emerged from the group discussions, including supplier diversification, the use of alternative and recycled materials, stronger collaboration with universities and technology centres, digital integration, advanced planning, quality control, automation, and the development of new markets and products.