Saying goodbye to a project on which we have been working intensively for 3 years is not easy. It produces a mixed feeling between the satisfaction of having exceeded all expectations, and the sadness of leaving behind dozens of wonderful people, and great professionals with whom we have been in almost constant contact during all this time.

In fact, the TEX-MED ALLIANCES project was born during the COVID-19 crisis. This forced the technical team to make an enormous effort to mitigate the impact of the health crisis and its mandatory lockdowns. An example of these difficulties is the cancellation, in 2020 and 2021, of most of the local and international textile fairs. But the project adapted quickly to the unpredictable and very difficult situation, taking advantage of all available opportunities, even if they were very few.

Turning such an adverse situation around and transforming problems into great opportunities can only be done by a great team of people with high capacities of resilience, enthusiasm, and perseverance.

Hundreds of people have been working on this project from partner organizations such as the Spanish, Texfor, leader of TEX-MED ALLIANCES, Cettex and MFCPOLE in Tunisia, GreekFashion - SEPEE in Greece, ACI- Amman Chamber of Industry (Jordan), GAGIC - German Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Egypt, Confindustria Toscana Nord in Italy and ACI - Palestinian Federation of Industries. We have to thank all these people, as well as the technical and coordination team, for the great results obtained. 

What can we say about the beneficiary companies of TEX-MED ALLIANCES? The project has obtained a high score of satisfaction among the participants. But beyond words expressed on paper, the important thing is that the project has helped them to improve and consolidate their business projects and, furthermore, new relationships have arised and strengthened, not only professionally but also in terms of friendship between many of them. Another success achieved.

Excellent results

The ENI CBC Med Programm, the framework of action of TEX-MED ALLIANCES, promotes cross-border cooperation between the countries of the Mediterranean basin. In our case, cooperation applied to the textile value chain. 

The TEX-MED ALLIANCES project was expected to reach 25 SMEs participating in newly created business alliances, both locally and internationally. To achieve this, 4 business initiatives were designed, promoted, and launched between participating companies and other entities from the 7 countries (Jordan, Egypt, Italy, Spain, Greece, Tunisia, and Palestine) involved in the project:

• To develop a new umbrella brand for Mediterranean, ethical and sustainable fashion, called TheMedNew.
• The Health Textile Digital Cluster has created a knowledge network between companies, experts, and laboratories across the Mediterranean, through a digital platform, the Health Textile Digital Cluster. 
• The Dyeing Small Batches facilities. Located in Monastir, Tunisia, the new machinery that TEX-MED ALLIANCES obtained for the CETTEX center, allows SMEs to work comfortably in the dyeing of small batches for their fashion collections.
• The Leftovers Partnership, a digital platform that acts as a marketplace for high-quality textile stocks at very interesting prices for Mediterranean garment manufacturers.

At the end of the project, the four initiatives have reached hundreds of textile companies and influenced thousands of people in the Mediterranean countries. An excellent result, especially considering that, before TEX-MED ALLIANCES, there were no equal partnerships between Mediterranean textile companies.

It is also worth to highlight the new community, with mostly thirty members around TheMedNew brand. This initiative has been able to take advantage of the new climate change scenario, combining the values of environmental sustainability, social justice and local (Mediterranean) culture in a single brand.

All this cannot remain just a three-year adventure. This is why TEX-MED ALLIANCES is not saying goodbye but "see you soon". Maybe it will be under a different name, but the spirit of the project that started in 2013 with TEX-MED Clusters and kept on with TEX-MED ALLIANCES, will find its way to materialize again. The objective remains the same, to empower and encourage cooperation throughout the Mediterranean textile value chain.