Visiting our manufacturers in Portugal

I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight out of Oporto. I've just spent a day in Guimaraes, North Portugal with our manufacturing partners. I know that I mention this time and again but I am so pleased and proud that Old Rectory products are made in Europe. We work towards ensuring that our products have as little impact on the environment as possible within the textile industry and being in our manufacturing centre today gave me that familiar good-vibes feeling that I get whenever I visit. Guimareas is instilled in the culture of textiles, pottery, embroidery, leathercrafting, tanning and many other crafts which I noticed as I strolled around the town's historical centre this evening. Any lover of textiles will find themselves admiring the exquisite hand crafted embroidered cottons and linens which the town seems to be famous for. I recommend a visit to the town if only for the embroidered tablecloths although one cannot ignore the incredible medieval architecture - it was a something that took me by surprise as generally I've only concentrated on getting to and from the factory with not much time to spare.

Interior of manufacturing centre, Portugal

Interior of manufacturing centre, Portugal

The local economy took a devastating hit when the great surge of manufacturing moved to China. Local employees within the industry were either made redundant or, as many did, moved to Moroccan factories in order to provide for their families. Whilst chatting to my work collegue in her factory today I asked if there has there been a return of manufacturing back to Portugal and she said that there has been some - a small but steady movement back. I found myself making associations to parts of Ireland that were dependent on certain industries like the textile one in Guimareas. Those industries aren't really coming back yet - the one that springs to mind is fishing. However the fishing towns in Ireland currently have a thriving tourist industry which we seem to promote well and enjoy. Lets hope we protect their indigenous architecture and maybe in centuries to come someone will refer to them as I am refering to this lovely medieval town of Guimaraes.

Historical centre, Guimaraes.

I got confirmation from our manufacturers that the GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certification will be accredited to all of our future products which I'm extremely pleased about. This will stand along our Oek-o-tex certification.

I heard this one chattering for sure.

Oh and my sons will be so pleased to hear that Guimaraes is mad about parrots. It was quite dreamy walking through the narrow cobbled streets listening to the sing-song chatter of parrots high above on potted terraces and balconies whilst a gentle warm breeze was stroking my face.


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