Ours has passed. Textilijada 7 / Textilijada 7, 2023 which has been held for the 7th year, lasted 3 days and had 15 activities.
We thank our partners without whom this event would not have been possible, and these are: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Skopje, Skopje office, Foundation The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, International Center Olof Palmes International Center, Sweden and Municipality of Stip Macedonia.
It was our honor and pleasure that this year the Textile Festival was opened by the Ambassador of Sweden, H.E. Ami Larsson Jain (Embassy of Sweden in Skopje), which expressed support for #Sweden for decent working conditions in our country through the Olof Palme Center and #GlasenTextilec.
Gratitude to the Mayor of Shtip, Ivan Jordanov (Ivan Jordanov), the Secretary of the Municipality of Shtip, Vishna Shorova and the Mayor's Office who provided support and special contribution to #Stip be a great host to our guests from Sweden, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia...
The art and culture that should be returned to the workers, but also the primacy of Shtip as a textile town, this #TextileIjadA7 really achieved it.
Thanks to David Stoilkovski from Kumanovo (Form), we can boast of the first #Mural on a building that now has the image of a textile worker sewing the Macedonian flag, to highlight the importance of women textile workers in our city as the main pillar and the importance of this industrial branch that should restore its shine and be the pride of Shtip, as it was in the past.
Huge thanks also to our collaborator Andrej Minevski, who for the second year in a row truly contributed to Shtip having important landmarks, last year through the worker's bench in the Kr' Teke park, and this year through the sculpture "Roots of Tradition" in the city center, which is in the shape of a tree, showing once again our tradition as a textile city and the textile industry, which is important not only for Shtip and the region, but also for the entire country.
But we wouldn't have succeeded without the support of Shtip City Mall (Stip City Mall), Arion Baucentar-Stip, EAM (Eam T Shirts MaiciParticularly important was the technical assistance and support from PE Stipion (PE Stipion 2011), and the first person, director Pance Stefanovski, who enabled the mural to be painted safely and on time, as well as the sculpture to have an appropriate pedestal that already beautifies our city and has caused really nice comments among our residents of Shtip, but also the Macedonian public.
Thanks to Astibo beas (Astibo Basic) and #EAM who welcomed the guests from Borås, Sweden and showed that we have a textile industry and brands that we can be proud of both as a city and as a country. Thanks to the clothing company Vedra Tex and Hristijan Velkov who showed how young entrepreneurs can have their own brand and are trying to sustain this industry.
We also thank: Daniela Stefanovska from # DIT, Dejan Zdravkov from #KE, Aleksandra Cvetanovska from #MZMP (Macedonian Young Lawyers Association), Igor Jadrovski and #KSZD (Commission for Prevention and Protection against Discrimination), but we would especially like to thank Magdalena Stojmanović-Konstantinov, who, although with a baby, managed to come from Skopje and shared with us her experience with discrimination at work due to her pregnancy, but also encouraged young mothers not to remain silent about this problem, but to be vocal.
A big thank you to our guests from #Boros, Sweden, consisting of Christian Lundell from ”Nordiska Textilakademin”, Sara Andersson from Borås Municipality Council and Nelly Hayek from Borås Municipality Council and #ACTE, our Johan Schmidt and Levend Bicaki, who were in our Shtip for three days and shared with us a lot of knowledge, a lot of advice, ideas so that textiles have a future and be a truly important economic branch and we have young people who will want to be part of this sector, but for it to be advanced, innovative, well-paid and attractive for everyone.
Also, thanks to Tamara Resavska-Mancevski from Reactor – Research in Action (Reactor Research in Action), Biljana Solakovska Mihajlovska from Fear Wear Foundation (Fair Wear Foundation), Viktor Mitevski from # DRAGONS (Association for Research and Analysis – ZMAI) and our resident of Shtip, Viktor Vukanovski, who moderated the panel discussions and made sure that we had really important conclusions from the speakers and knew where Glasen Tekstilec should be heading next year, until the next Tekstilijada. Designer Nikola Buleski and Aleksandar Petrikliski from the EAM company shared their experience and thoughts on the future of this sector in Macedonia, from which we have a lot to learn. Also, representatives of the two brands Workfashion and Albiro shared their examples of social responsibility in their production chain and cooperation with local actors like Glasen Tekstilec. The principal of the Secondary School "Dimitar Miraschiev" (Dimitar Miraschiev High School – Shtip), Marina Varadinovska who shared about the challenges of the school and the activities in which the students and their teachers are involved. Our Vange Manchova and the 37 students from primary and secondary schools who enriched this event of ours, we thank you.
Gjorge Jovanovic, who, with about 20 workers from Shtip, Struga and Delcevo, made 12 works for the first time with AI and showed that the artist, the worker cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence. It was especially important to hear about the state of the judiciary, the work of the institutions, corruption, but also the access to justice of citizens, workers through the prism of the president of the SCPC, Biljana Ivanovska, Stojan Mihov, a retired judge from Shtip, Donce Stamenkov from the law firm SAZDOV-STAMENKOV, as well as Daniela Stefanovska who was a representative of DIT. Jugoslav Ristic from ZG Nova Svetlovodstvo, Serbia, Brikene Hoxha from Kosovo, Nexhmie Spahiu from Albania and Dragan Tevdovski (Dragan Tevdovski) from # DRAGONS (former Minister of Finance). Artist and graphic designer Nikola Kostovski, again through the comic strip "Super Worker", and with the help of the artistic director of Tekstilijada, Denis Ampev, depicted this year's challenges for female workers, this time depicting discrimination in the workplace and the dismissal of pregnant women, but also the importance of the court and institutions that protect the rights of citizens. Thanks to the director of the Youth Center Shtip (Youth Center Shtip), Vidan Lazarev and the employees of the institution, who for the second year in a row, selflessly committed themselves to having successful art exhibitions. Gratitude to the journalists who followed the activities and informed the public about the events as part of our 7th Textile Festival. Finally, and most importantly, the contribution of the employees of Glasen Tekstilec, Blagojce, Silvija and Veselinka, our volunteers who were in record numbers this year, or rather, 54.
Many thanks for the technical support from Promotes Skopje – Macedonia in English (Bosko Galevski, Sasko Golov, The entire team suffers, including the translators who enabled us to communicate smoothly and understandably.) To Koma – design studio for the wonderful promotional materials and their efficiency and professionalism!
Finally, thanks from the workers who managed and did not manage to come to the event, but who support the work of the association throughout the year.
We exist for you.
See you at Textiliada 8!
