Confection Fléchoise: excellence and savoir-faire for luxury goods
Since its Design in 2006, Confection Fléchoise has established itself as a key player in high-end ready-to-wear and luxury Made in France. Founded in La Flèche, the company benefits from the experience and vision of its CEO Jacques Martin-Lalande. The company relies on artisanal savoir-faire enriched by modern technologies, while cultivating a strong collaborative identity within the France Inter Mode (FIM) network of workshops owned by its director.
Faced with the challenges of the textile sector, Confection Fléchoise embodies resilience and adaptation, supported by the strategic vision of Jacques Martin-Lalande. Jacques Martin-Lalande has a diverse background, having worked for Deloitte as an auditor, in industrial management control at Renault, and then as CEO of France Luxury Shirt. He has applied his financial and industrial expertise to the management of textile companies. Under his leadership, Confection Fléchoise benefits from a structured network and a proactive approach to ongoing training, ensuring the transmission of its savoir-faire.
Expertise consolidated by a structured network
Created initially to produce lingerie, Confection Fléchoise quickly had to and knew how to adapt. Today, it stands out for its specialization in sleeved garments, cotton blouses and dresses, while integrating embroidery or even moving towards reconversion of production, as was the case during the health crisis with the production of masks, then cloth diapers. This spirit of adaptation is rooted in a family vision rooted in a history of textile entrepreneurship: "My father had the Façon Luxe workshop, which produced two brands on its own, (...) with the opening of import quotas, there was delocalization, so 100,000 jobs were lost.
Confection Fléchoise is part of a high-performance environment, that of the FIM network, which brings together several workshops specialized in warp and weft: Façon Luxe, CoTecDéco, Coupe - Coupe, Luxe Océan Façon, Confection d'Argent, Confection de Vire, Confection de l'Huisserie and Société Boissierienne de Confection acquired 2 years ago. The collaboration between these workshops with their unique savoir-faire is a major asset in meeting the needs of luxury Homes. This pooling is reflected both in the transfer of skills and in direct exchanges between teams to optimize launches and production: "We try to transfer production according to the savoir-faire between ateliers, sometimes teams come to work on other sites to ensure a good launch and production." Moreover, membership of the Groupement de la Fabrication Française (GFF), guarantor of excellence and savoir-faire in the luxury goods industry, testifies to the quality of the production processes of the group's companies.
Innovation and eco-responsibility at the heart of the workshop
Confection Fléchoise combines tradition and modernity thanks to advanced technologies. Lectra cutting machines and the ERP system developed by ARImode guarantee precise management of operations. The workstations, equipped with digital tablets, enable real-time monitoring: "The operators know what actions to take according to the rebalancing, we prepare virtual tickets (packages) for them, and this enables them to know the progress of production", explains Jacques Martin-Lalande. This form of visual management is part of a strong commitment to lean management. Every morning, a five-minute team briefing covers a variety of topics: "team weather, production line organization, major operations, company news, internal quality feedback indicators, manufacturing targets, etc.", he details. The site's management team, headed by Baudoin de Berc, has been trained in visual management and is regularly coached by consultants to combine modern management methods with historical savoir-faire.
"Certified GOTS and "Les Ateliers Engagés", Confection Fléchoise is committed to eco-responsibility, with an imminent photovoltaic park and recycling of material offcuts : "Our customers recover their offcuts, and for those that remain we're looking for local solutions, notably with the MGO (Mode Grand Ouest) network, with whom we're looking for a new product to develop with our waste", says Jacques Martin-Lalande. The Mode Grand Ouest (MGO) regional union, which he chairs, is a key player in local development, federating companies in the luxury professions: "Mode Grand Ouest covers four regions, and it's the area where there are the most contract manufacturers dedicated to luxury, so there's a real spirit of working together", he stresses.
A strong commitment to training and transmission
The spirit of collaboration is also reflected in training management. Confection Fléchoise benefits from a shared traning organization with the other workshops of the FIM group, and with those of an extended network with companies managed by two of its siblings. This approach guarantees not only that our teams will continue to develop their skills, but also that the savoir-faire essential to the excellence of Made in France will be maintained.
"To make up for the scarcity of training courses that truly combine technical and management skills, we train our future managers in-house. Work-study students and trainees, representing 10% of the Group's workforce, follow a progressive course: quilting in the first year, then assisting line managers with job studies, timing and flow management", explains the director. This immersion not only reinforces their technical skills, but also familiarizes them with the strategic realities of the line manager profession, crucial to ensuring the smooth running of production. "We don't have a permanent product, so we regularly change organization and designs. The line manager has to anticipate the whole process, draw up the assembly range, the balancing, the line plan and, if necessary, train the operators one by one", explains Jacques Martin-Lalande. This is a strategic position, since "a good launch depends on the line manager's ability to prepare and react well". The renewal of workshop managers, who require at least ten years' experience, represents a real challenge for the future of the sector: "we need people to project themselves into our professions. It's up to us to be attractive and help them to project themselves (...)".
Confection Fléchoise embodies excellence and adaptability in the French made. Backed by a structured network and a strategic vision driven by Jacques Martin-Lalande, it is meeting the challenges of a changing market by preserving and helping to spread a savoir-faire essential to the luxury industry.
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