2022 could have been the year of the return to pre-pandemic levels for the Italian textile-fashion-accessories (TMA), a sector that in 2019 had close to one hundred billion in turnover, but which in 2020 lost more than 25% of turnover (with much higher peaks in some parts of the supply chain). However, the unknowns are more and more: the increase in raw material costs – partly physiological in a phase of global recovery – has been joined by increases in energy (up to 400%), in global and local logistics and, in the last few weeks, the Omicron variant, which is setting the clock back two years (see also the article on the page on the cancellations of events and trade fairs).
This scenario includes the agreement announced yesterday between Intesa Sanpaolo and Sistema Moda Italia (Smi), the most significant component, in terms of turnover and employees, of the TMA and Confindustria Moda, the federation of all the associations of the textile system -Italian clothing. The aim of the agreement is to support companies associated with SMI and the entire supply chain: as Sergio Tamborini, president of Sistema Moda Italia recently recalled (see Il Sole 24 Ore of 30 December and 5 January), the Italian Tma and in particular the upstream part of the supply chain, the most manufacturing one and represented by SMI, is mainly made up of SMEs and micro-enterprises, which are further away than the enterprises in the valley from returning to pre-pandemic levels. In many cases they even risk survival.
Losing pieces of the supply chain would mean saying goodbye to jobs, know-how and the integrity of a value chain that only Italy owns and controls in the medium and high range. At the heart of the agreement with Intesa Sanpaolo are financial liquidity, acceleration of investments for the 4.0 transition, sustainable growth and the circular economy. The main purpose is to make the financial and consulting tools of Motor Italia, the strategic program of Intesa Sanpaolo activated in 2021 to allow small and medium-sized enterprises to relaunch themselves through development projects and new credit, accessible also to the audience of companies in this sector. achieve the objectives of the NRP.
The tools offered by the largest Italian bank are very concrete and technical: first of all is the possibility of refinancing existing medium and long-term credit lines by extending the duration of the amortization plan up to 15 years, leveraging the current regulatory framework, which allows 80% of the guarantees of the Central Fund to be used, through additional credit lines with respect to the pre-existing ones.
Intesa Sanpaolo’s support for supply chains, heritage of the economic, industrial but also cultural system of our country, has lasted for a long time: “Through the Supply Chain Development Program, in recent years we have involved about 100 fashion chains with 2 thousand suppliers and a total turnover of over 10 billion “, explains Stefano Barrese, head of Intesa Sanpaolo’s Bank of the Territories, recalling that the collaboration with SMI” is part of the broader framework relating to the joint path between Intesa Sanpaolo and Confindustria, announced in the autumn, which disposition of 150 billion companies in three years to promote the development of the production system in line with the NRP ».