To succeed is to help people succeed 100 times more than you. This is what Martin Cantarelli, owner of the textile company Cantarelli, said in an interview with BGNES.
"A lot of people try to succeed but don't think about others. Then it is difficult to succeed. When you help other people succeed much, much more than you, then you succeed too. As Alexandra Cantarelli says, people divide into two groups. One are consumers who seek their own success and the other are builders who say, we need to create a better world and we need to participate in it," the entrepreneur said.
He pointed out that his cause at the moment is "very real, very big and very large". They are not alone in the market, but the European Commission is behind them, creating unique rules under which many unethical companies in the textile industry will cease to exist.
"For over ten years, together with the young people around me, we have been working to change the rules of the unethical business that many global brands do. Now the EC is introducing new laws and directives and in the textile industry things will become like in cigarettes, meat, alcohol. There will be certificates for every garment and that is very good," Martin Cantarelli emphasized.
Many global brands are already preparing for these changes. "If you buy a luxury bag and the handle breaks, you can go and they will repair it without a receipt," he explained.
The entrepreneur predicts that under the new rules, many brands will drop out, "Over 70-80% of fast brands will drop out."
Martin Cantarelli is helping young people find their place in this changing market. "Bulgarian designers, entrepreneurs and influencers are not Bulgarians, they are Europeans. We have to look at the huge opportunities that Europe gives us. At the moment our advantage is in entrepreneurial thought. In Western Europe, things have been sorted since 80 years ago. There everyone is a cog in a system, while we are a more entrepreneurial nation," the businessman insisted.
New opportunities will also be linked to the disappearance of fast fashion. Martin Cantarelli himself proposes to make this happen with the help of his Tuscany Fashion Academy and the production capabilities based on the large textile factory he has purchased in Italy. "At the moment in many industries the wages are minimal and the real young talented people are disappearing in Europe, leaving Bulgaria. Many settlements are becoming depopulated. We can do a lot to help young people at home and abroad," he said.
Europe itself admits that more than 90% of the production in the light industry is manufactured outside its borders. However, many things that are labelled as being made in Europe are produced in third countries, including Turkey. And this can easily be detected not only by the quality of the materials from which these clothes are made, but also by the inaccurate labels.
Fashion is the biggest exploiter in the whole world. Unfortunately, it also exists in Europe and in Bulgaria in particular. "Mothers work for minimum wages and the clothes they have made are sold at 20-30% markup. Today, our young people can revolutionise and save the villages, the towns and the young people themselves by getting proper wages, just like their mothers," he added. /BGNES