Ubrique's luxury skin crosses his second Rubicon

On this island of employment and prosperity, Ubrique has been well cured in two of the most famous meanings of the word crisis. They know what a "bad situation" is-as the region defines it-when big luxury goods companies turned their backs on their Moroccan stores to support Asia around 2004. When multinationals began returning from 2010, they applied another meaning of "profound change" to get rid of bad practices. But just as they live in this new golden age in this mountain town, coronavirus has passed and its burgeoning skin division now faces their second ruby, convinced that more than one studio will not survive this unexpected crisis.

"It will be a natural sieve. Those who are best prepared will have more survival options, "Javier Gallego, director of the Andalusia Skin Technology Center (movex), predicted bluntly. Pepe Montiel, head of Betangable Skin, made no secret of his anguished tears ahead of the so-called "March earthquake." The case of Montiel, which makes for luxury goods companies, with the brand 16U40, illustrates the changes that 290 companies working on leather goods have been immersed in. "At the beginning of this year, I had an 18-month order plan. Now it won't be longer than three months, "the businessman explained.

Large luxury brands such as louis vuitton, loewe, carolina herrera or dior; Brique has maintained an unstoppable growth trajectory year after year. In 2019, Morocco's domestic production reached 2,106.8 million euros, encouraged by luxury sales and exports, which are ubrique's main customers. The town is the architect of Andalusia's largest concentration of companies: According to the annual report of the Spanish Leather Products Manufacturers Association, it accounts for 27% of the total in Spain.

By the end of last year, the town of 16,615 residents had reached half the industrial unemployment rate it had reached in 2008, when the crisis triggered by luxury goods fleeing to cheaper production destinations in 2004 reached its peak. Because of the decline in quality, many fleeing companies have started to return since then. On the way back, Brique waits for them without resentment, away from past vices such as the black economy or unfair competition. At the end of 2019, only 872 people were unemployed, compared with 1,634 12 years ago; According to the data already provided by the territorial knowledge and employment delegation of the Andalusian military government. Today's comparisons seem obsolete, as Galicians recognise that the 5,000 workers in the field-of which 3,000 are fixed-"over 1.100 are still with you".

Thursday Wisdom: "Speak and carry softly with a big stick; You'll be there. " - Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President https: //t.co/UrfCNXwdfk

-Nasir ahmad el-rufa February 4th, 05: 39: 51 +0000 2021

Ubrique, with its whitewashed walls and tranquil streets, seems no different from any town in the Cadiz Mountains. But their economy has nothing to do with their environment. While the province was hit by the cruelest and most outspoken face of the 2008 financial crisis and its more than five-year shock wave, the leather industry continued to grow due to the counter-cyclical behaviour of luxury goods. But this recession is completely different from what we all know. "It is healthy and has a direct impact on lifestyle. The fashion accessories we produce here are downgraded to private, online show-off because there are no events or parties, "said Movex's director.

Fashion and luxury goods have also been affected by the slowdown that has begun to change the industry. "The series won't be that long, they'll be shorter and more timeless. In addition, luxury brands will close stores and focus more on online stores, so they no longer need to have so much physical inventory, but need more decoration, "Galician explained. Experts add that this puts ubrique into a new transformation environment in which "versatility and responsiveness" will prevail. That is, in an industry that still has the traditions and crafts to attract the first companies into the region. Workshops with fewer than 10 workers and 27 percent automation still account for 83.9 percent of Ubrique's, according to data collected in an industry report prepared by the Andalusian Agency for Innovation and Development.

Years ago, pepe montiel set wheels on all the desks in his studio, almost as if it were a statement of intent for this flexibility, now overrated by the pandemic. Over the summer, his 15 workers, far away, equipped with face masks, returned to the pit with new instructions. "We are making fewer units with sustainable materials. Where there used to be 2,000 orders, there are now five out of 250 orders, "Montiel noted, hoping for" good prospects for the future. " Entrepreneurs are not bluffing, and his case is an example of these workshops where, with the pandemic, they need to be "more organised, more in control of production and more agile relationships with suppliers" such as Vatich in Galicia.

Last October, a local company, which did not want to be named, was given permission to set up a new plant that will create 700 new jobs and will be fully committed to producing accessories for Vuitton. The director of Movex, faithful to the Ubrique model that encouraged Chascarrillo, a company working in the village before discovering infidelity, did not comment on what had happened before the coronavirus crisis. Pero sí sabe que, para que triunfos como esos se sigan materializando en este contexto postpandemia, la Meca de la piel de lujo tendrá, de nuevo, que esforzarse más. "We are in a very uncertain moment (......). Ubrique must step up and sell itself as a moral place that fits the conditions of work, health or the environment, "Hopeful Ditch in Javier, Galicia.