Coelima Brings High Quality and Its Own Name to Bedlinens
January 5, 2001
Company Wades Into Contract Sector With a Range of Bedlinen For Hospitals
Pevidém, Guimarães (Portugal) — With a goal of leading the bedlinen business, Coelima is reducing in-house production capacity in the pursuit of higher quality. A stunning new collection demonstrates how the company is bringing color and style to beds and bedrooms.
Albano Coelho Lima founded Coelima with a manual loom in 1922. For the first 70 years of its existence, the factory was focused almost exclusively on the production of plain, printed and yarn-dyed, private-label bedding.
But that strategy has changed over the past 10 years. Coelima's own collection now accounts for a quarter of sales and its influence within the world of bedroom fashion is fast growing.
This transformation continued five years ago with a management buyout. Offices have now been established in the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France and the United States. "Now we must change even more to progress further," explained marketing director Fernando Calado. "Before, we were a completely vertical company; today we are flexibly vertical. Now we mainly buy in both yarn and cloth, adding our own design skills and the required commercial management."
Coelima's sales are growing at around 10% a year, with a projected 2000 turnover of $80 million. Calado said all markets showed good improvements with the exception of Germany.
Around 15% of sales come from the domestic Portuguese market, giving the company a major share of total Portuguese bedlinen sales. The bulk of production, however, is exported, chiefly to the U.S.A. (30% of turnover), Scandinavia, the U.K., Germany, and the Netherlands, as well as other countries in Europe and worldwide. Notably, Coelima is the main producer of bedlinen in Portugal for Ikea, the giant Swedish-based global home fashion retailer.
At the huge Pevidém works that house 1,100 employees, every aspect of the production of quilt covers, pillowcases and bedsheets is carefully controlled, from raw materials to finishing, from dyestuffs to manufacturing machinery.
Coelima can weave bedding to widths of 3.20 meters; the company has its own printing capacity; and the new yarn dyeing facility is one of the biggest of its kind in Europe. In addition, the company has a top-of-the-range CAD/CAM system and a Stork laser-engraving unit.
A recent introduction has been the installation of several jacquard weaving machines with more to follow — a trend that is set to continue with increasing demand for such fabric. However, as Calado explained, the strategy is to reduce overall in-house capacity while improving the quality.
"As well as quality, our main thinking over the past 10 years has been in terms of design — we now introduce about 150 new designs and colors a year," he said. "But we always adapt our own ideas from the fashion trends."
The latest collection, Casulo by Coelima, is now in its second year. This innovative range — described by Calado as an "interception between Asian and European design" — has been well received in many different countries, particularly in Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Denmark, and also shows promise in the Middle East and Australia.
With its distinctive black and gray packaging, Casulo by Coelima is not marketed as a bedlinen collection, but as an elegant gift, said Calado.
Another innovation in the contract sector is the launch of a range of bedlinen for the hospital sector. "Coelima a Micor," based on a blend of 70% cotton with 30% Amicor acrylic fibers, is said to retain its bactericidal and fungicidal properties even after 100 industrial washes.
"After 10 years of hard work, we have achieved a great deal in terms of exports," Calado said. "Perhaps it is now time to look inwards. We need to sit back and think about what we can achieve over the next five years, and how we can make this happen.
"If we are intelligent enough, we have all the possibilities in our own hands. We are only limited by our imagination."
• Coelima Industrias Téxteis SA, Apartado 5, 4810 Pevidém, Guimarães, Portugal. Tel: + 351 253 539100. Fax: + 351 253 531576. Internet: www.portugaloffer.com/coelima
Heimtextil Stands: Coelima 4.2 G31, Casulo 1.2 A27.
Pevidém, Guimarães (Portugal) — With a goal of leading the bedlinen business, Coelima is reducing in-house production capacity in the pursuit of higher quality. A stunning new collection demonstrates how the company is bringing color and style to beds and bedrooms.
Albano Coelho Lima founded Coelima with a manual loom in 1922. For the first 70 years of its existence, the factory was focused almost exclusively on the production of plain, printed and yarn-dyed, private-label bedding.
But that strategy has changed over the past 10 years. Coelima's own collection now accounts for a quarter of sales and its influence within the world of bedroom fashion is fast growing.
This transformation continued five years ago with a management buyout. Offices have now been established in the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France and the United States. "Now we must change even more to progress further," explained marketing director Fernando Calado. "Before, we were a completely vertical company; today we are flexibly vertical. Now we mainly buy in both yarn and cloth, adding our own design skills and the required commercial management."
Coelima's sales are growing at around 10% a year, with a projected 2000 turnover of $80 million. Calado said all markets showed good improvements with the exception of Germany.
Around 15% of sales come from the domestic Portuguese market, giving the company a major share of total Portuguese bedlinen sales. The bulk of production, however, is exported, chiefly to the U.S.A. (30% of turnover), Scandinavia, the U.K., Germany, and the Netherlands, as well as other countries in Europe and worldwide. Notably, Coelima is the main producer of bedlinen in Portugal for Ikea, the giant Swedish-based global home fashion retailer.
At the huge Pevidém works that house 1,100 employees, every aspect of the production of quilt covers, pillowcases and bedsheets is carefully controlled, from raw materials to finishing, from dyestuffs to manufacturing machinery.
Coelima can weave bedding to widths of 3.20 meters; the company has its own printing capacity; and the new yarn dyeing facility is one of the biggest of its kind in Europe. In addition, the company has a top-of-the-range CAD/CAM system and a Stork laser-engraving unit.
A recent introduction has been the installation of several jacquard weaving machines with more to follow — a trend that is set to continue with increasing demand for such fabric. However, as Calado explained, the strategy is to reduce overall in-house capacity while improving the quality.
"As well as quality, our main thinking over the past 10 years has been in terms of design — we now introduce about 150 new designs and colors a year," he said. "But we always adapt our own ideas from the fashion trends."
The latest collection, Casulo by Coelima, is now in its second year. This innovative range — described by Calado as an "interception between Asian and European design" — has been well received in many different countries, particularly in Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Denmark, and also shows promise in the Middle East and Australia.
With its distinctive black and gray packaging, Casulo by Coelima is not marketed as a bedlinen collection, but as an elegant gift, said Calado.
Another innovation in the contract sector is the launch of a range of bedlinen for the hospital sector. "Coelima a Micor," based on a blend of 70% cotton with 30% Amicor acrylic fibers, is said to retain its bactericidal and fungicidal properties even after 100 industrial washes.
"After 10 years of hard work, we have achieved a great deal in terms of exports," Calado said. "Perhaps it is now time to look inwards. We need to sit back and think about what we can achieve over the next five years, and how we can make this happen.
"If we are intelligent enough, we have all the possibilities in our own hands. We are only limited by our imagination."
• Coelima Industrias Téxteis SA, Apartado 5, 4810 Pevidém, Guimarães, Portugal. Tel: + 351 253 539100. Fax: + 351 253 531576. Internet: www.portugaloffer.com/coelima
Heimtextil Stands: Coelima 4.2 G31, Casulo 1.2 A27.
