Lantal

Lantal's success story in Portugal

Lantal Textiles is a leader in the design, production, and distribution of textiles and services for the international community of aircraft, railway, bus, executive jet and yacht operators.

In 2016, the Swiss group acquired the Portugal-based company Gierlings Velpor, a major European player in velvet and synthetic fur. Today, all the textiles produced for the group’s land transport business are proudly ‘made in Portugal’.

Established in Portugal: 2016

Industry: Textiles

Where: Santo Tirso (Porto region)

Country of Origin: Switzerland

The history of Lantal goes back more than 130 years. What started out as a linen mill for local cheesemakers in Switzerland is now one of the most important textile manufacturers serving the global aviation and ground transportation markets.  

Today, the company offers all-in-one solutions and a premium portfolio of innovative products, including seat upholstery fabrics, wall coverings, carpets, fine leather and pleated curtains, most of which originate in the northern Portuguese city of Santo Tirso. 

With its investment of 2.5 million euros in Portugal, Lantal has strengthened its production capacity by investing in new equipment and technology, as well as qualified human resources in areas like design, sales and customer support, which ultimately allowed the group to increase its competitiveness and tap into new markets. 

The company’s production site in Portugal manufactures velvet, the most important textile for the ground transportation industry, and currently employs more than 250 people.  

Urs Rickenbacker, Lantal’s CEO, highlights the quality of talent available in Portugal and says the northern area of Porto, in particular, “has many well-trained people in the textile industry”. He also praises how easy it was to access this talent, “much easier than in other countries, which helped us a lot to develop the company to the stages we are in right now”. 

As for the future, the Swiss group plans to strengthen collaboration with the Portuguese textile industry and transfer an additional basis to the country. “We are very happy with how it’s working; we have excellent conditions here and would like to expand our business in Portugal”, says Urs Rickenbacker. 

We were looking for a place to invest, we visited several countries and finally came to the conclusion that Portugal has the best textile terrain because there is a great community when it comes to textile companies. We started collaborating with these companies and were very impressed with their quality, management and products.