Relocation of textile production: training at the heart of 3/3 issues

Relocation of textile production: training at the heart of 3/3 issues

With the waves of relocation of the textile industry, it is not only jobs that France has lost.These are also know-how.Many of the couturiers working in these factories retired.Others have been forced to convert, losing their sewing skills.

In Marseille, the French preparation workshops were able to rely on the workforce of the CAP Indus company which they bought. “This workshop employed up to 150 people. They made leather, clothes, underwear, swimwear. But many of their customers have disappeared or preferred to relocate their production, ”says Julien de Vernisy who therefore decides, with his sister, to buy the business while keeping a good part of the team. Most of them experienced women who are working to transmit their know-how to young recruits, trainees or apprentices. "When these are profiles we believe," said the entrepreneur, somewhat bitter. “Sewing is a difficult job. We spend 7 hours behind a machine. And it takes several years of experience before reaching a certain maturity. But with young people, it's complicated. We have always played the game by taking trainees, apprentices ... But very often, they do not know why they are there ”.

Sewing, a difficult and devalued profession

All companies questioned make the same observation.Not easy to find motivated young people, able to work in sewing.For Anne Cécile Ratsimbason, founder of medical styling in Nice, several reasons can be explained.

“In schools, the couturier profession is no longer in vogue, unlike fashion design.Manual work is not sexy.It is often associated with a garage route.I studied fashion in a school in Berlin.Many of my comrades said to themselves that it was not so serious if they did not know how to sew, that they could subcontract this to focus on design. ”

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A trend that according to her is harmful to the profession.“If we are a creator and we have not learned to sew, we quickly find ourselves in overhang with the seamstresses.We do not realize that a jeans take so much time to be manufactured.I know how to sew, I have much clearer exchanges with my seamstress ”.

To change the situation and reconstruct a pool of talents, the making companies nevertheless try to welcome a maximum of young people."With them, we are in seduction," says Sahouda Maallem, patron of the 13 Atipik insertion site in Marseille."We take the time to train them, to make them discover the sector".

To manage to develop despite the shortage of talents, the Nice Atelier Le Point Français (past from 1 to 40 employees in 2 years) found a solution: the creation of an internal training unit, through the'Action training prior to recruitment (AFPR), a Pôle Emploi system which allows people to train while paying them back to employment for obtaining a position in a company.

Everyone has their own tip.And everyone in their corner as the workforce is rare, putting companies in competition."We all spend a lot of time on training, support, especially in insertion structures," notes Sahouda Maallem (13 Atipik).“But sometimes I can have a profile that would be better for another more industrial structure, and vice versa.We would need more bridges between us ”.

A production school to train and relieve local businesses

To advance collectively - and faster - on this thorny subject of training, the Fask collective has just launched Fask Academy, a production school which will be located in the Aygalades district of Marseille (15th arrondissement), on an area of 650 meterssquares.

"Production schools are a Lyon concept born at the end of the 19th century," explains Jocelyn Meire, founder of Fask.“There are 36 in France.These are private, free, free schools, a third of the budget from the sale of students manufactured by students ”.It will actually be a question of meeting the labor needs of local businesses.

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Anne Cécile Ratsimbason (medical styling) thus intends to appeal to the living forces of the school when her Nice and German seamstresses will be overwhelmed, which is frequent."We also have discussions with major orders like Kaporal who could entrust us with capsule collections."And why then then if customer interest is confirmed.

Jocelyn Meire also thinks of actors not directly linked to fashion."Event companies could call on us to make tote-bags manufactured in France, as part of their CSR approach".

During their training, students will spend 20 hours every week in the workshop and will attend 10 hours of theoretical lessons."After two years, we will present them at CAP Mode, blurred clothing that forms workshop workshop operators".

With an initial investment funded by the South Region, the Totalnergies Foundation and the Caisse des Dépôts, the school should soon host a first promotion of 15 students aged 15 to 18.To feed vocations, create jobs.And thus oxygenate a well -determined sector to find a new breath.

Maëva Gardet-Pizzo

5 minutes

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