"A wave of return from local production": how the textile industry is reborn in France

By wetretrjyu
28/08/2022
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Jean-Luc Boujon et Olivier Samain, édité par Antoine Terrel

Grâce à la montée en puissance du """"made in France"""", les entreprises du secteur textile relèvent la tête après de nombreuses années d'hécatombe. Le nombre d'emplois remonte même lentement, tandis que les enseignes de la grande distribution passent désormais des commandes aux entreprises françaises.

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Is French textiles raising your head?After years of factories' relocation to Asia, the trend of """"local consuming"""", amplified in recent months by the coronavirus crisis, seems to be causing the renewal of the sector.The """"made in France"""" is trendy, as in the Loire department, historic clothing basin, where SMEs automatize to the tight to produce at a lower cost, and thus compete with imports.With the key a hoped -for rebate of employment.

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In the Monts du Forez, for example, in Sainte-Agathe-la-Bouteresse, the weaving machines of the old Marcoux Lafay manufacture now run at full speed, after years of activity in slow motion.Everything restarted after the takeover in 2020 by two partners, including Arnaud de Belabre, who is now developing the Made in France of quality for mass distribution.

""""Today, with the COVID, the difficulties of supply, the transport costs, the wish we see, it is really to reproposize articles produced locally,"""" he explains to Europe 1, beforeto present a few pieces.""""You have layette that is produced here.You also have sweaters that we will deliver to Leclerc, at Carrefour....We really feel a wave of return from Made in France, of local production.""""

""""We find our sovereignty""""

And this heavy trend is also confirmed in the Roanne textile basin, explains Eric Boel, boss of the weaving of Charlieu, a company which has just signed a big contract with Auchan. """"C'est un contrat sur cinq ans de 10 millions de sacs de caisse en tissus, qui vont remplacer des sacs en polypropylène qui arrivent d'Asie"""", précise-t-il. """"On crée des emplois et on retrouve la souveraineté qu'on a complètement perdu, comme on l'a vu au moment des masques.And we divide our carbon impacts by ten.""""

For this, the company will invest 22 million euros, especially in machines, and will also double its workforce by recruiting one hundred new employees in the two years old.

A slow increase in the number of jobs

But this return in the form of textiles made in France is not limited to the Loire.There is clearly a national trend.Since 2016, employment in the textile industry in France has returned to grow after a massacre that lasted ten years.At the bottom, in 2015, there were only 58.000 jobs in the textile industry in the country.Today, we are a bit above 62.000.

The progression is slow, but it is there, driven by innovation, by orders from the luxury sector, but also by the renewed interest of consumers for the Made in France.

Imported textiles remains a very majority

Of course, there is still a long way, when you know that 97.5% of the clothing textiles bought in France is imported textiles.But several recent opinion surveys show that in the field of textiles too, the responsible purchase is gaining ground, even if you have to pay a little more for that.Hence orders that start to have French companies through mass distribution.When signs like Kiabi, Leclerc or Carrefour get there, it is that, really, it is not a fashion phenomenon.