Cornerstone of Spain’s industrial fabric, home to world-renowned artisanal silk, garments, home textiles and advanced technical textiles, the Spanish textile and clothing sector is facing profound change. Confronted with rising global competition, energy price pressures, and major transitions reshaping the industry, Spanish social partners- employers’ and trade unions’ representatives - gathered in Valencia for the EU-funded Stitch Together national seminar.
The 2-days discussions brought together voices across the sector, sharing national as well as European know-how, with the common goal of strengthening social dialogue. The seminar culminated in consensus on the Valencia Joint Declaration, a shared vision for the future of Spain’s textile and clothing sector.
This Declaration consolidates the social partners’ determination to work together for a competitive, attractive, sustainable, and socially responsible industry, while safeguarding traditional know-how and preparing for upcoming transformations.
Six pillars of commitment for the future
The Valencia Joint Declaration defines six priority areas of engagement:
- Enhancing social dialogue, ensuring inclusive and representative mechanisms such as the Comisión Paritaria function effectively.
- Strengthening competitiveness, enabling companies – especially SMEs – to grow within a stable and socially responsible framework.
- Driving a green and circular transition, integrating climate, energy efficiency, and circular economy challenges with public policy support.
- Investing in training, innovation, and skills, including lifelong learning, reskilling pathways, and anticipation of digital and green transitions.
- Improving sector attractiveness and inclusion, ensuring access to quality, stable employment for young people, career changers, migrants, and underrepresented groups.
- Ensuring decent work and protecting purchasing power, with commitments to equal treatment, safe working conditions, and collective solutions to counter inflation.
A collective call for just transition
The Valencia Declaration highlights a unified belief: Spain’s textile future depends on cooperation between employers and workers, rooted in social justice, innovation, and sustainability.
Dirk Vantyghem, Director General EURATEX: “The Spanish textile industry is not immune to the global challenges that test the future of our sector. Remaining competitive on a market that lacks a level playing field in front of ultra fast fashion needs to be a collective effort. This Joint Declaration is proof that only by working together can we ensure a healthy transition of the industry, while preserving the roots that define the Spanish textile heritage.”
Judith Kirton-Darling, IndustriAll Europe’s General Secretary stated: "Workers in the textile and clothing sector deserve to live with dignity on the wages they earn. In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, collective bargaining is more important than ever to secure fair pay and good working conditions, and more generally social dialogue is vital to anticipate and manage change as well as ensure good jobs throughout the supply chain. Stitch Together shows that by working together, trade unions and employers can build a future where textile workers in Spain and across Europe are valued, respected, and supported.”
Read the joint statement here