A manufacturing business on Ptolemaion Street

Mrs. Gianna is now about seventy years old. She was born in Serres, studied tailoring in Thessaloniki and worked for a short time at ‘Rheiner’, a German garment manufacturing factory at the port of Thessaloniki. She went on to work at a large garment manufacturing company in Athens. As she mentions in this extract from her interview, at the age of 22 she returned to Thessaloniki, where she established her first garment manufacturing co-op in the area around Antigonidon Square, on the western outskirts of the city’s historic centre. Mrs. Gianna’s first business endeavour in garment manufacturing coincides with the massive expansion experienced by the clothing and textile sector throughout Northern Greece.

Soon, Mrs. Gianna’s manufacturing workshop moved to Ptolemaion Street, right in the middle of where the wholesale trade of finished clothing and raw clothing materials flourished during the 1980s. This is the place where traders from all over Northern Greece can find snap buttons, piping, belts, buckles, etc. It is also the place where clothing retail sellers from all over the country order the merchandise they will be selling in their stores in the seasons to come. The manufacturing units are often located on the higher floors of the buildings on Prolemaion Street, while the stores on the ground floor sell the products manufactured upstairs. From the beginning of the 1980s until at least the end of the 1990s, Ptolemaion Street is considered an important hub for those looking to trade in clothing and associated raw materials, as well as a place of innovation in garment design.