Cholet, France's leading fashion school
The Choletais fashion industry is not resting on the laurels of its glorious past. Today, it is preparing its future by training young people and adults in its professions. Two specialized high schools, one public and one private, Jeanne Delanoue and Fernand Renaudeau, have successfully weathered the decades by adapting their content to the needs of companies.
Fashion in Pays de la Loire, according to an article in Fashion United published at the end of 2023, was then 246 establishments, 54% of which operated in the luxury and high-end sector (clothing, textiles, footwear and leather goods). In 2022, fashion exports from Pays de la Loire were worth no less than 1.7 billion euros, with 29% for textiles, 32% for clothing and 39% for leather goods-leather-shoes.
The industry's dynamism is also reflected in jobs: 2,000 positions were created in the region between 2017 and 2023, according to the Courrier de l'Ouest. And nearly 500 positions are to be filled in the second half of 2024, representing a thousand designs over the year, according to data from ORCI (observatoire régional des compétences industrielles) Pays-de-la-Loire.
Le choix du luxe
If the region, a historic fashion basin, has shown such resilience in a complicated environment, it's no accident. "In 1996, the Gatt agreements, the forerunner of the WTO, marked the beginning of unbridled globalization. The fashion industry, always at the economic forefront, was one of the first to be affected by relocation. But the region and the Pays de la Loire were able to modify their service offering and chose Luxury Goods, which have become a real driving force", recalls Vincent Guitton, Deputy Director of the Lycée de la Mode, Fernand Renaudeau specialized cluster.
In the same way that the fashion industry in the Cholet region has reinvented itself by moving upmarket and innovating, local vocational training courses themselves have understood that it is absolutely essential to keep up with the changes taking place.
The Lycée de la Mode de Cholet opened its doors in 1989, at the instigation of the public authorities and the professional sector.
"From the moment we were designed, we knew we had to fight for our survival. Since then, we've never stopped evolving", explains Vincent Guitton. The school's location, in a district that is home to an entire fashion ecosystem (headquarters of the Mode Grand Ouest trade group, formerly the IFTH (Institut Français du Textile Habillement) and various companies) and its involvement with the Campus Métiers Qualifications Industries créatives de la mode et du luxe, naturally facilitates this attentiveness to the needs of the industry. The Lycée is also a pioneer in apprenticeships for CAP, Titre PRO, BTS and Licence PRO.
Multiplication of exchanges with the professional world
In general, the Lycée de la Mode's teaching teams are stepping up exchanges with the professional world to "encourage the adaptation of training courses to changing skills and professions, facilitate the search for training periods in the workplace (internships), define tutored projects or case studies, develop apprenticeship co-training (Titre PRO, BTS and licence PRO) and integrate professionals into courses, assessments and exams", says the Lycée de la Mode communication.
"Originally, the Lycée de la Mode mainly had pre-baccalaureate (BEP) or bacs Pro training courses, explains Vincent Guitton. Then, with companies having a very strong need for technicians to frame more contract manufacturer work and less production, the Lycée multiplied its BTS training courses. We've become something of an inverted pyramid. Today, we're in the process of becoming an hourglass, because we're maintaining our range of BAC +3 training courses, but we're broadening the base more and more, because there's an ever-increasing need in the production professions".
In fact,"since 2008-2010, Luxury has become more than preponderant. For the future of companies, it's the beginning of reindustrialization, but also the very strong rise of Leather Goods". The Lycée thus opened a luxury leather goods PRO title in 2017, the fashion and luxury workshop dressmaker PRO title in 2019, and finally, in 2021, the PRO license in industrial methods, luxury garments, unique in the territory. "These training courses are eagerly awaited by all manufacturers because we need to improve productivity, guarantee the efficiency of workshops in this logic of reindustrialization with exacerbated savoir-faire and quality requirements linked to Luxury".
A wide range of training courses
These new diplomas have been integrated into a wide range of training courses, from production to design, from bac -3 to bac+3, from CAP to DNMADE (Diplôme National Métiers d'Art & Design) mention Fashion, including bac PRO, BTS and licences PRO... Continuing education courses for job-seeking adults or employees are also created to measure by GRETA CFA 49, notably in manufacturing professions such as Couturier(ère) en atelier Mode et Luxe.
With 400 students, including 140 on sandwich courses, the Lycée de la Mode has set itself the "major objectives" of developing "professionalizing training" and"offering the maximum number of apprenticeships to meet companies' expectations". Lycée students also receive practical training in the realities of their future employers, thanks to a technical platform richly equipped with machines and software for cutting, technical fashion design, textile CAD and garment making. It is home to 150 garment making machines and around 60 leather goods machines. "A fairly substantial investment plan, financed by the Pays de la Loire region, will enable us to acquire new garment making resources (cut and sew knits) in the medium term", announces Vincent Guitton.
But the Lycée de la Mode's strength also lies in the creation back in 2004 of the Rapid Prototyping Platform, since renamed "eMode". "We were one of the first establishments to be equipped by Lectra with digital solutions offered to all students in the establishment," explains the managing director. This enables them to arrive at companies with turnkey solutions, and has greatly helped us to multiply our interactions with the industrial world".
"Hand stitch"
While the Lycée is at the forefront of technology, that hasn't stopped it from also perpetuating, for years, apprenticeship in "hand stitch" garment making, thanks to instructors initiated in the greatest luxury Houses, "which is what gives the Pays de la Loire its Luxury coloring and uniqueness", stresses Nathalie Robin, operational director of the Campus des Métiers et Qualifications Industries créatives de la mode et du luxe.
It's all paying off. At the Lycée de la Mode, in 2024, the overall exam pass rate was 98.9% for the 80 apprentice candidates enrolled and 97% for the 167 candidates from conventional courses enrolled at the Lycée! 80 companies had thus recruited an apprentice with an overall satisfaction rate of 89%!
Another historic and still relevant training institution in the Choletais area: the private lycée sous contrat Jeanne Delanoue. Born of the merger of several establishments, it has followed the threads of fashion from the outset: the CAP Couture was its first diploma, opened in 1951! Like the Lycée de la Mode, Jeanne Delanoue keeps pace with developments in the fashion industry. "In the 1980s, manufacturing units in the Choletais basin were the subject of major questioning", recalls Didier Bourrigaud, deputy director of Jeanne Delanoue and director of the training center. Since its Design, the establishment has both closed and opened a large number of training courses, including those outside its original specialization, for example in the hotel and catering industry. And in fashion, the catalog of diplomas has itself undergone a major transformation. Didier Bourrigaud cites as an example, the 2022 creation of a Pro Couturier en Atelier Mode et Luxe qualification, at the instigation of Sylvie Chailloux, then President of the Union Française des Industries Mode et Habillement (UFIMH) and CEO of Textile du Maine. While other, older diplomas have undergone reforms at the request of professional organizations, allowing more content related to actual manufacturing to be incorporated of late.
Jeanne Delanoue: four training schemes
Today, Jeanne Delanoue offers four fashion training schemes, ranging from CAP MMVF (Métiers de la Mode, Vêtement Flou) to Titres Pro couturier-retoucheur or couturier en atelier mode et luxe, via Bac Pro MMV (Métiers de la Mode option Vêtement) or MCC (Métiers de La Couture et de la Confection). They are taught either at the lycée or at the training center. The lycée, which includes both general and practical courses, is aimed at young people aged 14 and over. Focusing on technical apprenticeships, with alternating sessions at the company, the training center targets adults undergoing educational reorientation or professional retraining, aged from 18 to over 50...
All of them get hands-on experience of the gestures of their future professions, thanks to technical platforms equipped with garment making equipment as well as Lectra software, accommodating up to 80 learners each year. Jeanne Delanoue is in close contact with companies, "mainly through a partnership with Mode Grand Ouest, but also more directly with small workshops", explains Didier Bourrigaud. This collaboration also involves concrete projects with workshops, brands and other service providers. In 2024, the Lycée Jeanne Delanoue worked with Terre de Marins, a member of Mode Grand Ouest. This manufacturer of nautical-style clothing had approached the lycée to organize a highlight to mark its thirtieth anniversary.
A dense network of service providers and manufacturers
More generally, whether for the Lycée de la Mode or for Jeanne Delanoue, their location in the Choletais region means they benefit from a local ecosystem that is favorable to collaboration, employment and innovation, with a dense network of service providers (designers, product development units, creators) and manufacturers...
Aside from work-study, apprenticeships and internships, collaborations take many forms, whether in the form of projects, prototypes, fashion shows or even competitions.
The Lycée de la Mode and Jeanne Delanoue both cite the donation of materials. "Fiscally, companies get reductions thanks to these donations and it allows us to make study pieces. It's a win-win situation", explains Didier Bourrigaud (Jeanne Delanoue). In particular, these fabrics are used for end-of-year fashion shows, showcasing both students and donor companies.
Le Lycée de la Mode, meanwhile, entrusts the cutting of materials to workshops as part of the production of mini batches for the Bac Pro Métiers de la couture et la garment making. "We have a digital spreading machine, but it's a monopli, whereas our partners have tools for spreading. This saves us a time-consuming operation with little added value. What our companies want is for us to train on garment making techniques, not cutting", explains Vincent Guitton.
At the end of the training, the location of the high schools in the Cholet region obviously proves invaluable. "Many of our students stay on in the Pays de la Loire region, some as a continuation of their internship or sandwich course. Even if, of course, some of them wish to join the greatest luxury Houses in Paris by personal choice or because they have been spotted by one of them, notably through a competition. Training in the Pays de la Loire region is also appreciated by these greatest luxury Houses", emphasizes Nathalie Robin.
Playing collectively
But the area's alchemy is also its ability to play the collective card. "Whether public, private or corporate, we all work together for the benefit of the industry. We're training young people who will be the active collaborators of companies tomorrow, so it's essential that this cogwork is done with each other, believes Nathalie Robin.
And to raise awareness of technical professions in fashion and inspire vocations from an early age, there's no shortage of initiatives in the Choletais region.
In addition to the traditional Portes Ouvertes in high schools and training centers, the Comité Colbert, the French association of luxury houses, organized its "De(ux)mains du luxe" operation in Cholet for the first time in November 2024. The aim was to convince young people, from secondary school onwards, to take up training, and also less young people, to retrain in the savoir-faire of fashion, through both company demonstrations and presentations of ad hoc training courses. The challenge was more than met, with 15,000 participants! Enough incentive to repeat the operation at the end of 2025. Another event, on a more modest scale (with around 800 visitors in February and May 2025), is the Salon Mod'Avenir, which has already been held three times in Cholet and Le Mans, enabling visitors - young and old, jobseekers and employees undergoing retraining - to discover, over the course of a day, the full range of professions and training courses available in the fashion industry in the Pays de la Loire region. While prestigious companies such as Louis Vuitton and Longchamp have already responded to the first editions, a fourth is on the horizon in 2026.
In a completely different spirit, on May 16 the Lycée Jeanne Delanoue attracted 600 spectators to its fashion show in the form of a musical and dance performance at Cholet's Théâtre Interlude. An attractive way to showcase not only her students, but also partner companies, while inspiring other young people to emulate them...
A lively content, designed with the companies
Generally speaking, the Lycées de la Mode and Jeanne Delanoue are committed to bringing the content of their training courses to life, drawing as much as possible on the resources of companies, particularly on the current subjects of digital, CSR and second-hand.
On the sustainable development ribbed, Vincent Guitton (Lycée de la Mode) talks about projects, partnerships and interventions with companies "revolving around material employment, product sustainability, the process linked to design...". On the theme of eco-responsibility, IKKS has placed its trust in the Lycée de la Mode's licence pro class for the past two years, dedicating a case study to a product then put on sale in the boutique. This was the case in September 2024 and will be the case again for the Autumn Winter 2025-26 collection. Finally, in addition to the trainer or speaker resource, the Lycée de la Mode uses 3D design tools to achieve zero waste.
By going far beyond the simple transmission of technical knowledge and opening them up to the ethical dimensions of their future professions, the Choletais establishments are fulfilling a vital mission for tomorrow's French manufacturing: to train a new generation of committed, multi-skilled technicians...They are not content to perpetuate a glorious past: they are preparing a sustainable, innovative and local future. Thanks to a strong synergy between schools, companies and local authorities, the Cholet style continues to set the standard, both literally and figuratively.
