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Photo credit: Floriane Retaux
For more than twenty years, Sessùn has been working closely with Pedrosa, a family-run workshop in Portugal where garments are shaped through collective craft and long-standing know-how. Founded in 1982 and now being passed on to the second generation, Pedrosa has built its identity on time, transmission and a deep respect for materials — with jersey at the heart of its expertise.
Over the years, a relationship of trust has grown, rooted in dialogue, shared commitments and a common vision of a sincere, durable way of making clothes. Here, we meet the people behind the scenes who bring Sessùn pieces to life.
Could you tell us the story of your workshop and what motivated its creation?
Pedrosa is a family business, now being handed over gradually to the second generation. It was created out of sheer necessity in 1982, a time brimming with opportunity due to Portugal’s recent joining the European single market. Lots of european fashion brands, mostly sportswear, began to source their basics in Portugal. Our founders had only minimal knowledge of textiles at the time, but that – along with hard work and ambition – was all it took to kickstart our history.
Could you introduce your teams and the areas of expertise that make up your workshop?
Our factory is an orchestra of diverse talents and skills. We have a robust sample room (our garment laboratory where we experiment with new shapes and fabrics every day; this is where we convert our clients’ vision into a wearable garment for the very first time), with highly skilled seamstresses and garment technicians.
Then we have our fabric warehouse, where colleagues test and inspect all the fabrics we use. We have a big cutting section, where we cut all our production and retrieve cutting waste to recycle and make new fabric. Our most veteran colleague, Amélia, has been working there since the first day we opened our doors, 1st June 1982. We have our team of pattern-makers, the architects of each style we make.
Then we have our quality inspectors, all former seamstresses, that guarantee all productions meet our clients’ high quality standards. Our colleagues in the Finishing section are like wizards with the steam iron – they bring garments to their best shape just with precision, heat and steam. Our packing team then packs everything nicely and off the garments go - in a truck, ship or airplane, from Gilmonde to the world.
What role does the human element play in your work?
The human element is at the heart of everything we do. As a family business in a small community, we are personally involved in each other’s lives, not just professionally. We have entire families working in our team and are firm believers in long-term, full-time employment. The more we do in this field, the more skilled we become, so our high retention rate is crucial for us to be able to craft the best quality garments.
You have been collaborating with Sessùn for over 25 years: how did this relationship begin, and is there a particular moment that stands out to you?
Sessùn has been our client for almost 25 years, making it our oldest partner. Our relationship began with an introduction between our co-founder Ms. Pedrosa and Emma François, who was running her then-small start-up brand. Our founder Ms. Pedrosa felt a spark with Emma (perhaps that same energy and ambition that initiated our company) and accepted to produce very small quantities to help her grow. The most special thing throughout all these years is bearing witness to Sessùn’s success while staying so true to the brand’s unique point of view; no matter how much our industry changes and the world of fashion evolves, Emma’s distinctive worldliness continues to make sense in the market. No one else seems to do it quite like Sessùn.
Your expertise in jersey is essential to our collections. How would you define your know-how, and is there a particular technique or skill that sets you apart?
In our hearts, we at Pedrosa are true fashion geeks. We love to understand the product beyond the sum of its parts. Who is going to wear it and what’s its purpose are always things we consider alongside its technical and functional aspects. Jerseys are technically challenging materials because they are naturally unstable, so we have to be very methodical in testing our fabrics to understand their behaviour. We are very good at antecipating this behaviour and this helps guarantee consistency and a good performance in terms of everyday wash and wear. Our talents shine through the most in the following product categories: mixed media garments, combining jersey and woven in a single piece; luxury streetwear, tailoring, impeccable essentials (these have no distractions and have to be very well made) and more fashion-forward, conceptual pieces. We have a very good hand for dresses too.
Is there a Sessùn piece that has particularly stood out to you, or one that you are especially proud of?
Anything that Sessùn does with a stripe! As we see it, Sessùn has a truly unique perspective on colour and on how they go together, and we feel like any time we do a stripey top or dress for Sessùn, the whole factory comes alive with colour.
At a time when knowledge transfer has become a major issue, how do you share your know-how with younger generations within the workshop?
We feel incredibly lucky for the generational mix in our team. In fact, this might be a key ingredient in our secret sauce! On the one hand, we have our veterans at Pedrosa, people who have been here 10, 20, 30 years. On the other hand we have younger colleagues, some on their first jobs, excited about this magic of transforming raw material into product, now with the aid of ever-evolving technology. The rich interchange between generations, working side by side within the same teams, means that we are all prepared to unlearn and relearn new things everyday, but always seasoned by a sense of perspective.
What challenges, opportunities, or innovations do you foresee for the future of textiles, both here in Portugal and in your profession in particular?
The years ahead will no doubt present us with significant challenges and the entire global business landscape is changing rapidly. So, as an exporting company, we must be flexible and agile to adapt to our clients’ evolving needs. But there are opportunities as well: consumers are no doubt shifting their interest to brands that are not only aesthetically relevant but which also operate according to their values. Sustainability presents great opportunities for Made in Portugal, as we are so close to European brands and comply with national law as well as European regulation. Finally, circularity is a very exciting opportunity; we now recycle our cutting waste and use it to make beautiful new fabrics, from which we make new garments for our clients.
If you had to sum up our partnership in three words, which would they be?
Collaborative, generous and honest
What elements have allowed our partnership to endure and remain strong over time?
Good quality products, high service levels and a close relationship based on a long history of mutual trust between Pedrosa and Sessùn. Our teams know each other very well, and our business cultures are very aligned. Plus, the Sessùn team is highly experienced technically, which means that we speak the same language – this is of the utmost importance in any factory-brand alignment.
