Riopele at Expo Dubai

Riopele is part of a consortium of 11 Portuguese companies from the textile, clothing and footwear sectors that created the uniforms of the staff of the Portugal Pavilion at Expo Dubai.

Belcinto, Calvelex, Carité, Lameirinho, Paulo de Oliveira, Polopiqué, Riopele, Triple Marfel, Trotinete, Twintex and Vandoma developed and produced this uniform that aims to "show the best of what is done in Portugal".

CENIT, in partnership with ANIVEC (Portuguese Association of Clothing) and the support of APICCAPS (Portuguese Association of Footwear Industries), gathered the know-how of 11 national companies of fabric, footwear and clothing to produce the uniforms of the teams of the Portugal Pavilion in Expo Dubai and position the national fashion industry as one of the best in Europe and the world.

Under the coordination of CENIT - Textile Intelligence Centre and ANIVEC, with the collaboration of APICCAPS and with the seal of the project MODAPORTUGAL, the companies collaborated in the production of uniforms, including clothing, footwear and accessories, which were designed by the designer Filipe Augusto, in a project curated by Miguel Flor.

Tiles as inspiration

The inspiration for the uniforms came from something typically Portuguese: tiles. "The collection is extremely graphic and it's hard to go unnoticed without being overly exuberant. The idea of this project was to create various patterns that end up giving a strong identity to the garments", highlights Miguel Flor.

Luís Castro Henriques, president of the Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade of Portugal (AICEP), responsible for the Portuguese participation, and Commissioner-General for Expo 2020, stressed that Portugal is going to Dubai to present itself as "a diverse and inclusive country, which has always taken its culture and welcomed others, which once connected the world by the seas and which is, as it has always been, open to the world".

This initiative is part of the Global.MODAPORTUGAL 21.22 project, promoted by CENIT - Textile Intelligence Centre, with co-financing from Portugal 2020, under Compete 2020 - Competitiveness and Internationalisation Operational Programme, with funds from the European Union, through the European Regional Development Fund.