Schoeller Reduces Natural Resource Use with Its New Collection Re-Source
Interview: Özge Çağıl Sütcü
We interviewed Antonio Gatti Balsarri, Chief Commercial Officer of Schoeller Textil AG, for the April special issue of “Swiss Textile Machinery Industry,” our Tekstil Teknoloji magazine.
We talked to Antonio Gatti Balsarri about the general situation of the market and their latest innovations, ‘Re-Source’. The highlights of the interview are as follows:
“We maintain our leading supplier position in our key markets”
Schoeller® fiscal year 2022 ends on March 31, 23 so we cannot provide any final information yet. The situations on the markets in this fiscal year 2022/23 were characterized by price increases, a war in Europe, high inflation, and energy cost explosions. For us as a company producing in Switzerland, the weakness of foreign currencies such as the US dollar and the euro was also a further burden. We are very strongly affected by this, since the costs for gas and electricity in Switzerland are not capped as in other EU countries. Nevertheless, we do our best to keep our position as a leading supplier of high innovative and sustainable performance textiles in our key markets: 75% Europe, 18% USA, 7% Asia. We will exhibit at the following fairs and will show schoeller® novelties in the upcoming days: TITAS Taiwan, A + A Düsseldorf, ISPO München, Techtextil Frankfurt
“We had to reengineer some articles because of the crise”
In the first instance, this means a massive increase in energy costs, which we unfortunately have to pass on to our customers in part by means of energy costs surcharge. On the other hand, we had to reengineer some articles so that we can maintain a certain market price and the customers can keep our products in the assortment.
At the end of February, we presented our novelties on the subject of theme “re-source” With the new RE-SOURCE collection, we create synergies between sustainability and the best in textile performance. As a company, this is one way we are working to do our part and stay focused on our schoeller® brand vision: a better future for people and the planet through the textile development process. The our re-source collection also is part of our zero waste sustainability strategy.
We see different signs of how the market could develop in our fiscal year 2023/24. We see parts of Europe performing somewhat weaker than America and Asia. In any case, it will remain challenging as long as the geopolitical situation continues to influence our day-to-day business. On the other hand, all of us at schoeller® are sensitized to be more agile and to adapt to ever faster challenges.
“We offer attractive working conditions and train young talents”
This challenge is omnipresent. We are also more or less affected by it. We try to keep our talents in the company for the long term. We offer attractive working conditions, room for development, and train young talents. Of course, these are only some of the measures we do. Statement: we think that our employees are the best ambassadors for future jobs we offer.