How Italy Regains Brilliant Achievements on the An
Ladies and Gentlemen, good afternoon to you all.
I am glad to have the opportunity of meeting the representatives of Chinese sericulture and silk industry and their international guests, who are attending the “Silk and Belt Road Forum” today.
My name is Stefano Vitali. I am the Director of “Fratelli Vitali di Roberto SpA”, a weaving mill which is seated not far from Como.
We produce jacquard and plain woven fabrics, we are a link in the textile chain which is concentrated in the surroundings of Como and which is the hub of the silk industry in Europe, as you well know.
An important number of mills, very highly specialized in each aspect of the activities which add value to silk, from twisting to finishing.
Since last April I have the honor to be the new President of Ufficio Italiano Seta.
I am taking the floor as representative of the Italian silk industry and I wish to thank the Chinese organizers of this event, because they give us the possibility to exchange our views and expertise in silk developments.
During the millenniums, the Silk Road has generated the widest exchange of goods and contacts in both ways between Asia and Europe.
Through it silk came from China, replacing Mediterranean silk, and slowly this yarn introduced modern industry in the West.
In recent times the same "Road", still existing in various forms, brought into the East machinery and discoveries, exchanging them as in ancient times among peoples living from one extreme to the other of the two continents.
There are about 300 species of known insects producing different cocoons.
Their use appeared at least 5-7 thousand years ago.
On the shores of the Mediterranean cocoons of insects were used, soaked in hot water and pulled at various points to extract threads.
Greek papers dated more than 3,000 years ago describe the excellent quality of the fabrics obtained.
The same technique was common throughout Asia.
But in China it was noted that the cocoon thread, in some species of insects, was a single, continuous, very long thread. The most suitable species is the one now called Theophila mandarin.
Since it was very unhandy to pick up cocoons from the mulberry branches, they tried to produce more cocoons, giving the insect leaves removed from the plant.
The production selection for that insect lasted more than a thousand years. The result was the Bombyx mori!
For two or three thousand years, China guarded it jealously.
While in the West they were using wild silk, on 9 June 53 at the border between Turkey and Syria, the army of Rome suffered a very heavy defeat in the battle against the Persians.
On that occasion, the Romans discovered that the enemies had banners, dresses, and other accessories made with a kind of unknown silk.
It was the type of Chinese creation, never seen before in the Mediterranean area.
After the war, through the Greeks, an exchange of products soon began between Romans and Persians including, above all, the most coveted silk.
This was paid by the Roman aristocracy at very high prices.
From the time of Rome to the Byzantine Empire, silk trade for six centuries was very prosperous, but how silk was produced in China it was a mystery and in the West many hypotheses, often imaginative, on the origin of that thread were made.
Only around 550 the exact origin of that Eastern silk became known.
Two Christian monks, through the Silk Road, brought silkworm eggs from China to Byzantium, transported in bamboo canes. They also taught the essential technique of cocoon reeling.
Within a couple of centuries the breeding of silkworm, together with the reeling process, spread from Byzantium to the Middle East.
The Silk Road brought basic machines and techniques for textile production from Central Asia to the Middle East: the simple spinning wheel for wool, silk waste, cotton and other fibers; the high horizontal weaving loom; the circular silk yarn twisting machine.
In the period between the ninth and tenth centuries the silkworm had already reached all Mediterranean countries.
The ancient habit of the Mediterranean silk made of wild silkworms disappeared completely.
The wars triggered by the Crusades against the Muslims and Byzantium allowed the before mentioned textile machines and techniques, already in use in the Middle East, to reach Europe.
The spinning wheel and the loom spread rapidly and widely all over Europe.
Such techniques and the circular silk yarn twisting machine, starting from the thirteenth century, became the reference for silk manufacturing and for the production of all kinds of fabric.
Especially in Italy and in the south of Europe silk production over three centuries generated factories with hundreds of workers.
Later that kind of industrial organization was applied to other productive sectors with excellent results.
From the eighteenth to the middle of the nineteenth century, silk activity was the largest industry in the Western countries.
It generated, among other things, a large qualitative leap into mechanics by inventing more productive twisting machines and textile looms.
Such positive development extended to other textile fibers such as wool and cotton.
In the nineteenth century, also the reeling became increasingly mechanized.
In the mid-1800s a heavy crisis exploded due to the illness of the "pébrine", which affected silkworms. In a few years it destroyed 90% of cocoons in the West.
The rescue came once again from the Orient with supplies of cocoons and, especially, of healthy seed bugs (eggs).
This situation led to a reopening of productive relationships between Europe and the main Eastern countries.
Even in these days we buy almost all silk materials from China and the attendance today of a good group of silk people from Italy is the consequence of the importance of the relationship with China nowadays.
Now I shall give you, first of all, some information regarding the situation of silk activity in Italy.
Secondly, I shall introduce some points which could help our fiber to perform better, not only in Italy, but all over the world, because silk plays its game in a very international scenario.
We already declared several times, in the past, how important for Italian silk industry is foreign trade, 75% of our turnover is made abroad.
In 2016 the value of Italian exports of silk products reached 873 million Euro, that means 2% more than in 2015.
The main market was France, more than 143 million Euro, especially for luxury products.
United States, Middle East and Germany were quite stable, Switzerland reduced its value, United Kingdom improved it a little bit.
China jumped from 52 to almost 64 million Euro, a very good increase, which was mainly due to the strong development of sales of made ups.
Our exports regard mainly silk fabrics, in 2016 it was 209 million Euro, decreasing 8%.
Silk dresses jumped to almost 192 million Euro, 25% more.
Silk shirts and blouses amounted to almost 152 million Euro, 6% more.
Silk ties decreased to 144 million Euro, 6% less.
Silk scarves were almost 128 million Euro, a slight increase.
Generally speaking, if we look at values it seems Italian silk industry is running well.
But if we consider quantities, 2016 recorded important losses.
Italian garment makers have been able to increase their sales of very expensive silk made ups all over the world, but silk consumption in the textile chain is suffering.
In 2016, consumption of silk yarns in weaving in Italy decreased 11%.
Production of Italian fabrics (comprising Italian finishing of foreign loomstate or boiled off) declined 6%.
During these latest years a substantial reduction in silk mill consumption has been recorded especially for ties, a product which is suffering a continuous decline.
But even in garments making, we see increasing shift from silk to other continuous filament fibers.
This is happening not only because of price pressure, as it already happened in the past, but also for innovation and good marketing of fibers similar to silk.
Fashion, to some extent, is abandoning silk and it is more and more approaching other fibers.
Fierce competition occurs not only among different companies or among different countries, but also among different fibers.
We believe there is an important job that must be done in order to support silk in a textile market which is affected by an increasing competition among fibers.
The first keypoint that in our opinion deserves to be carefully considered is environmental sustainability.
Last year and two years ago we already introduced the fact that the respect of the environment is a dogma today, for the consumers.
Therefore it has a tremendous impact on the marketing approach of the brand names.
They have promoted Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals.
Greenpeace supports Detox program.
Global Organic Textile Standard claims to define itself what may be considered biological, apart from the real facts.
There are several attempts to give measure to the green behavior of the textile chain.
They invite us to become more and more green and we are making very important efforts to provide this service for our customers.
We know silk is the queen of fibers.
We know also that it is a natural fiber, it is obvious !
But it is not obvious that worldwide information about silk is widespread among final consumers.
Especially young people are not commonly aware of the properties of silk, at least in western countries,
In some cases, they do not even know what silk is !
If you search the web, it will be not easy to find effective information about silk.
We must promote serious communication about the green properties of the silk.
It is necessary to develop web platforms giving clear and correct information about silk.
We must give evidence to the properties that have made silk a winning fiber since a long time.
Today young people risk to ignore it.
Communication of silk as eco friendly fiber would promote silk consumption and it would make young people closer to the fiber.
But there is another aspect that I want to emphasize.
The interest in ecosustainability is strong.
Consumers want to be informed and to form their opinion about it.
The weak communication about silk gives the way to dangerous misinformation of it.
In some books which recently were published in Europe, the environmental behavior of several fibers was described.
Man Made fibers were quoted as the most ecological.
Silk, which is natural, was considered as less ecological than chemicals.
In these books the reference to silk and the knowledge of its features was very, very poor.
The prejudice toward silk is substantial, because books and articles make opinion among consumers.
You can imagine the damage done to silk by poor information that buyers, fashion trendsetters, brand officials may receive.
And it is not only a matter of good communication about silk, which is lacking.
It is a matter also of good arguments, which must be developed and properly promoted.
Last year, here in Hangzhou, Mr. Joao Berdu gave his speech describing that sericulture helps mitigation of carbon footprint.
This is a good argument and we should exploit it as silk community.
It is just an example. I am not entering technical details.
I believe it is an important job for Technical Innovation Professional Committee to promote studies and to define proper strategies for supporting silk as ecological fiber.
That is exactly what silk really is.
The second keypoint is fair trade.
Italy buys all silk materials from China and 75% of sales of Italian silk products are made abroad.
International attitude is fundamental not only for Italian silk industry.
Each single country using silk depends on Chinese supplies and even China is export oriented.
There is no fiber as much international as silk and to have easy trade flows should be profitable for each attendant of the silk game.
On the contrary, we still see some barriers which should be removed.
In some countries is an evidence that unacceptable duties are levied on silk products in a way that is preventing any business development for foreign supplies.
In Europe we are promoting the reform of preferential rules of origin for trade flows inside the so called Pan Euro Mediterranean area.
This is a matter that is substantially affecting the consumption of extra EU silk twisted yarns and spun silk yarns and we are trying to obtain a favorable solution.
In China the situation is much better that 15 years ago, but there is still something that must be done.
Chinese authorities have introduced G.B. Standard and its requirements.
When Chinese silk producers sell their materials or their madeups to Europe, they must check the goods before shipping.
This is obvious and it is the same for us.
Even European Exporters cannot avoid to make tests at home, in order to check the compliance, before shipping the goods.
But when the goods enter China, they may be tested again and Chinese authorities do not recognize European tests.
In Europe, as well as in China, we have reliable laboratories which are accredited internationally under very strict and purely technical rules.
We can understand the willingness of Chinese policy makers to control the features of the good that China is importing.
On the contrary, we cannot understand why we have to submit our goods to testing twice, in Europe and in China.
It is just a tax without any real significance.
Protectionism in the long term is counterproductive also for its supporters, because it prevents the modernization and the adaptation to international patterns.
I think it is our common interest to remove illogical barriers to trade and to improve trade conditions.
The last point I am going to quote is quality.
Quality requests by European high end garment companies are setting the bar higher and higher.
It is a milestone for keeping silk in the luxury market, but it is fundamental also for each market segment.
Without quality there is no future for silk !
Quality is not obvious and each step of the textile chain must keep its engagement with the common goal of providing the market with reliable products.
In this perspective electronic testing may be a useful support, if wisely exploited.
We are interested in promoting the application of the electronic testing for controlling the quality of raw silk.
We are aware of the efforts Chinese silk players are going to promote, with the aim of introducing electronic tests among reeling mills.
We believe it is fundamental to pursue a more effective information on the feature of silk materials.
We encourage Chinese silk community to reinforce the implementation of electronic testing.
I go towards the end of my speech.
Last year and two years ago we attended interesting meetings arranged by International Silk Union, with attendants coming from the most important countries involved in silk business.
We repeat again the importance and the need of strengthening the cooperation among silk players at international level.
In our companies, we have our strategies, we are deeply committed with them and we develop our business accordingly.
It is necessary to do the same for silk, at institutional level.
On the contrary, we believe that nowadays silk is suffering the lack of clear institutional strategies.
We need silk strategies for ecosustainability, for fair trade, for quality improvement.
Today economic trends are faster and faster and need to be tackled with timely and concrete measures.
In our opinion it is urgent to defend silk and silk players with some very precise policies.
China was the birthplace of silk and even today it is by far the dominant country in the world.
We Italians may give suggestions, on the basis of our experience.
We did it even last year and two years ago.
But China is the leading country for silk and it is up mainly to Chinese players to promote concrete steps which may help silk to shine as the queen of fibers even in the future.
I thank you for your attention
Ladies and Gentlemen, good afternoon to you all.
I am glad to have the opportunity of meeting the representatives of Chinese sericulture and silk industry and their international guests, who are attending the “Silk and Belt Road Forum” today.
My name is Stefano Vitali. I am the Director of “Fratelli Vitali di Roberto SpA”, a weaving mill which is seated not far from Como.
We produce jacquard and plain woven fabrics, we are a link in the textile chain which is concentrated in the surroundings of Como and which is the hub of the silk industry in Europe, as you well know.
An important number of mills, very highly specialized in each aspect of the activities which add value to silk, from twisting to finishing.
Since last April I have the honor to be the new President of Ufficio Italiano Seta.
I am taking the floor as representative of the Italian silk industry and I wish to thank the Chinese organizers of this event, because they give us the possibility to exchange our views and expertise in silk developments.
During the millenniums, the Silk Road has generated the widest exchange of goods and contacts in both ways between Asia and Europe.
Through it silk came from China, replacing Mediterranean silk, and slowly this yarn introduced modern industry in the West.
In recent times the same "Road", still existing in various forms, brought into the East machinery and discoveries, exchanging them as in ancient times among peoples living from one extreme to the other of the two continents.
There are about 300 species of known insects producing different cocoons.
Their use appeared at least 5-7 thousand years ago.
On the shores of the Mediterranean cocoons of insects were used, soaked in hot water and pulled at various points to extract threads.
Greek papers dated more than 3,000 years ago describe the excellent quality of the fabrics obtained.
The same technique was common throughout Asia.
But in China it was noted that the cocoon thread, in some species of insects, was a single, continuous, very long thread. The most suitable species is the one now called Theophila mandarin.
Since it was very unhandy to pick up cocoons from the mulberry branches, they tried to produce more cocoons, giving the insect leaves removed from the plant.
The production selection for that insect lasted more than a thousand years. The result was the Bombyx mori!
For two or three thousand years, China guarded it jealously.
While in the West they were using wild silk, on 9 June 53 at the border between Turkey and Syria, the army of Rome suffered a very heavy defeat in the battle against the Persians.
On that occasion, the Romans discovered that the enemies had banners, dresses, and other accessories made with a kind of unknown silk.
It was the type of Chinese creation, never seen before in the Mediterranean area.
After the war, through the Greeks, an exchange of products soon began between Romans and Persians including, above all, the most coveted silk.
This was paid by the Roman aristocracy at very high prices.
From the time of Rome to the Byzantine Empire, silk trade for six centuries was very prosperous, but how silk was produced in China it was a mystery and in the West many hypotheses, often imaginative, on the origin of that thread were made.
Only around 550 the exact origin of that Eastern silk became known.
Two Christian monks, through the Silk Road, brought silkworm eggs from China to Byzantium, transported in bamboo canes. They also taught the essential technique of cocoon reeling.
Within a couple of centuries the breeding of silkworm, together with the reeling process, spread from Byzantium to the Middle East.
The Silk Road brought basic machines and techniques for textile production from Central Asia to the Middle East: the simple spinning wheel for wool, silk waste, cotton and other fibers; the high horizontal weaving loom; the circular silk yarn twisting machine.
In the period between the ninth and tenth centuries the silkworm had already reached all Mediterranean countries.
The ancient habit of the Mediterranean silk made of wild silkworms disappeared completely.
The wars triggered by the Crusades against the Muslims and Byzantium allowed the before mentioned textile machines and techniques, already in use in the Middle East, to reach Europe.
The spinning wheel and the loom spread rapidly and widely all over Europe.
Such techniques and the circular silk yarn twisting machine, starting from the thirteenth century, became the reference for silk manufacturing and for the production of all kinds of fabric.
Especially in Italy and in the south of Europe silk production over three centuries generated factories with hundreds of workers.
Later that kind of industrial organization was applied to other productive sectors with excellent results.
From the eighteenth to the middle of the nineteenth century, silk activity was the largest industry in the Western countries.
It generated, among other things, a large qualitative leap into mechanics by inventing more productive twisting machines and textile looms.
Such positive development extended to other textile fibers such as wool and cotton.
In the nineteenth century, also the reeling became increasingly mechanized.
In the mid-1800s a heavy crisis exploded due to the illness of the "pébrine", which affected silkworms. In a few years it destroyed 90% of cocoons in the West.
The rescue came once again from the Orient with supplies of cocoons and, especially, of healthy seed bugs (eggs).
This situation led to a reopening of productive relationships between Europe and the main Eastern countries.
Even in these days we buy almost all silk materials from China and the attendance today of a good group of silk people from Italy is the consequence of the importance of the relationship with China nowadays.
Now I shall give you, first of all, some information regarding the situation of silk activity in Italy.
Secondly, I shall introduce some points which could help our fiber to perform better, not only in Italy, but all over the world, because silk plays its game in a very international scenario.
We already declared several times, in the past, how important for Italian silk industry is foreign trade, 75% of our turnover is made abroad.
In 2016 the value of Italian exports of silk products reached 873 million Euro, that means 2% more than in 2015.
The main market was France, more than 143 million Euro, especially for luxury products.
United States, Middle East and Germany were quite stable, Switzerland reduced its value, United Kingdom improved it a little bit.
China jumped from 52 to almost 64 million Euro, a very good increase, which was mainly due to the strong development of sales of made ups.
Our exports regard mainly silk fabrics, in 2016 it was 209 million Euro, decreasing 8%.
Silk dresses jumped to almost 192 million Euro, 25% more.
Silk shirts and blouses amounted to almost 152 million Euro, 6% more.
Silk ties decreased to 144 million Euro, 6% less.
Silk scarves were almost 128 million Euro, a slight increase.
Generally speaking, if we look at values it seems Italian silk industry is running well.
But if we consider quantities, 2016 recorded important losses.
Italian garment makers have been able to increase their sales of very expensive silk made ups all over the world, but silk consumption in the textile chain is suffering.
In 2016, consumption of silk yarns in weaving in Italy decreased 11%.
Production of Italian fabrics (comprising Italian finishing of foreign loomstate or boiled off) declined 6%.
During these latest years a substantial reduction in silk mill consumption has been recorded especially for ties, a product which is suffering a continuous decline.
But even in garments making, we see increasing shift from silk to other continuous filament fibers.
This is happening not only because of price pressure, as it already happened in the past, but also for innovation and good marketing of fibers similar to silk.
Fashion, to some extent, is abandoning silk and it is more and more approaching other fibers.
Fierce competition occurs not only among different companies or among different countries, but also among different fibers.
We believe there is an important job that must be done in order to support silk in a textile market which is affected by an increasing competition among fibers.
The first keypoint that in our opinion deserves to be carefully considered is environmental sustainability.
Last year and two years ago we already introduced the fact that the respect of the environment is a dogma today, for the consumers.
Therefore it has a tremendous impact on the marketing approach of the brand names.
They have promoted Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals.
Greenpeace supports Detox program.
Global Organic Textile Standard claims to define itself what may be considered biological, apart from the real facts.
There are several attempts to give measure to the green behavior of the textile chain.
They invite us to become more and more green and we are making very important efforts to provide this service for our customers.
We know silk is the queen of fibers.
We know also that it is a natural fiber, it is obvious !
But it is not obvious that worldwide information about silk is widespread among final consumers.
Especially young people are not commonly aware of the properties of silk, at least in western countries,
In some cases, they do not even know what silk is !
If you search the web, it will be not easy to find effective information about silk.
We must promote serious communication about the green properties of the silk.
It is necessary to develop web platforms giving clear and correct information about silk.
We must give evidence to the properties that have made silk a winning fiber since a long time.
Today young people risk to ignore it.
Communication of silk as eco friendly fiber would promote silk consumption and it would make young people closer to the fiber.
But there is another aspect that I want to emphasize.
The interest in ecosustainability is strong.
Consumers want to be informed and to form their opinion about it.
The weak communication about silk gives the way to dangerous misinformation of it.
In some books which recently were published in Europe, the environmental behavior of several fibers was described.
Man Made fibers were quoted as the most ecological.
Silk, which is natural, was considered as less ecological than chemicals.
In these books the reference to silk and the knowledge of its features was very, very poor.
The prejudice toward silk is substantial, because books and articles make opinion among consumers.
You can imagine the damage done to silk by poor information that buyers, fashion trendsetters, brand officials may receive.
And it is not only a matter of good communication about silk, which is lacking.
It is a matter also of good arguments, which must be developed and properly promoted.
Last year, here in Hangzhou, Mr. Joao Berdu gave his speech describing that sericulture helps mitigation of carbon footprint.
This is a good argument and we should exploit it as silk community.
It is just an example. I am not entering technical details.
I believe it is an important job for Technical Innovation Professional Committee to promote studies and to define proper strategies for supporting silk as ecological fiber.
That is exactly what silk really is.
The second keypoint is fair trade.
Italy buys all silk materials from China and 75% of sales of Italian silk products are made abroad.
International attitude is fundamental not only for Italian silk industry.
Each single country using silk depends on Chinese supplies and even China is export oriented.
There is no fiber as much international as silk and to have easy trade flows should be profitable for each attendant of the silk game.
On the contrary, we still see some barriers which should be removed.
In some countries is an evidence that unacceptable duties are levied on silk products in a way that is preventing any business development for foreign supplies.
In Europe we are promoting the reform of preferential rules of origin for trade flows inside the so called Pan Euro Mediterranean area.
This is a matter that is substantially affecting the consumption of extra EU silk twisted yarns and spun silk yarns and we are trying to obtain a favorable solution.
In China the situation is much better that 15 years ago, but there is still something that must be done.
Chinese authorities have introduced G.B. Standard and its requirements.
When Chinese silk producers sell their materials or their madeups to Europe, they must check the goods before shipping.
This is obvious and it is the same for us.
Even European Exporters cannot avoid to make tests at home, in order to check the compliance, before shipping the goods.
But when the goods enter China, they may be tested again and Chinese authorities do not recognize European tests.
In Europe, as well as in China, we have reliable laboratories which are accredited internationally under very strict and purely technical rules.
We can understand the willingness of Chinese policy makers to control the features of the good that China is importing.
On the contrary, we cannot understand why we have to submit our goods to testing twice, in Europe and in China.
It is just a tax without any real significance.
Protectionism in the long term is counterproductive also for its supporters, because it prevents the modernization and the adaptation to international patterns.
I think it is our common interest to remove illogical barriers to trade and to improve trade conditions.
The last point I am going to quote is quality.
Quality requests by European high end garment companies are setting the bar higher and higher.
It is a milestone for keeping silk in the luxury market, but it is fundamental also for each market segment.
Without quality there is no future for silk !
Quality is not obvious and each step of the textile chain must keep its engagement with the common goal of providing the market with reliable products.
In this perspective electronic testing may be a useful support, if wisely exploited.
We are interested in promoting the application of the electronic testing for controlling the quality of raw silk.
We are aware of the efforts Chinese silk players are going to promote, with the aim of introducing electronic tests among reeling mills.
We believe it is fundamental to pursue a more effective information on the feature of silk materials.
We encourage Chinese silk community to reinforce the implementation of electronic testing.
I go towards the end of my speech.
Last year and two years ago we attended interesting meetings arranged by International Silk Union, with attendants coming from the most important countries involved in silk business.
We repeat again the importance and the need of strengthening the cooperation among silk players at international level.
In our companies, we have our strategies, we are deeply committed with them and we develop our business accordingly.
It is necessary to do the same for silk, at institutional level.
On the contrary, we believe that nowadays silk is suffering the lack of clear institutional strategies.
We need silk strategies for ecosustainability, for fair trade, for quality improvement.
Today economic trends are faster and faster and need to be tackled with timely and concrete measures.
In our opinion it is urgent to defend silk and silk players with some very precise policies.
China was the birthplace of silk and even today it is by far the dominant country in the world.
We Italians may give suggestions, on the basis of our experience.
We did it even last year and two years ago.
But China is the leading country for silk and it is up mainly to Chinese players to promote concrete steps which may help silk to shine as the queen of fibers even in the future.
I thank you for your attention
