The apparel industry shares its best CSR practices
In early April, the Groupement de la Fabrication Française and the Maison du Savoir-Faire et de la Design organized three round tables in Paris, on the eve of the Made in France Première Vision trade show. The aim? To discuss concrete and inspiring CSR initiatives within the framework of the "Les Ateliers Engagés" label and the Impact Score reference framework.
CSR is now an essential part of corporate life. But while large companies are getting to grips with it without difficulty, SMEs don't always know how to tackle the subject. It was precisely to enlighten their members that the GFF (Groupement de la Fabrication Française) and the Maison du Savoir-Faire et de la Design, which connects principals and French manufacturers via its platform, organized an informative and convivial evening of exchanges in Paris on April 1. In other words, the day before the industry's big event, the Made in France Première Vision trade show at the Carreau du temple.
Aside from the date, the address was just right for hosting such an event: the Climate House, located on rue du Caire, in the heart of Paris's fashionable Sentier district. Opened a year ago, this new venue hosts up to 400 players (entrepreneurs, investors, activists, scientists, students...) committed to minimizing environmental impact on a daily basis in shared offices, as well as numerous events in dedicated rooms.
The "Les Ateliers Engagés" label and the Impact Score: two valuable tools
The evening's organizers, represented on the one hand by Sylvie Chailloux and Diego du Réau, co-presidents of the GFF (but also respective directors of Textile du Maine and France Luxury Shirt), and Sylvie Maignan, head of the Maison du Savoir-Faire et de la Design, highlighted the CSR levers offered to the industry by two invaluable tools. On the one hand, the "Les Ateliers Engagés" label, specific to the profession, and on the other, the multi-sector Impact Score reference framework.
Initiated in 2020 by the GFF, the "Les Ateliers Engagés" label approach enables contract manufacturers to improve and showcase their responsible commitments. It allows "to go beyond the mere "made in France" argument by reinforcing the assets of local manufacturing and initiating concrete actions to meet the requirements of the biggest Homes" explains the GFF. "It's a formidable tool for supporting and transforming organizations in depth", clarifies Diego du Réau (GFF). Since the label was launched, 28 workshops have been made aware of the approach, thanks to the organization of three annual webinars. Five workshops have already been awarded the label, and 22 workshops audited "à blanc", a dozen of which are expected to apply for the label by the end of 2025.
For its part, the Impact Score was presented on April 1 by Octave Kleynjans, director of the Impact Lab at Mouvement Impact France, which coordinates this common reference framework imagined "by and for entrepreneurs and managers" from all walks of life, bewildered in the face of "the avalanche of new regulations and the multiplication of labels". Described by Diego du Réau (GFF) as "a formidable aircraft carrier for working in depth", the Impact Score enables any company to self-assess its overall 360° approach to social and ecological commitment. A free form, which can be completed independently in less than 2 hours, offers a condensed overview of impact indicators for existing standards and benchmarks. The company's own employees are invited to take part by answering, anonymously, a precise questionnaire accessible via a QR Code. The Impact Score platform delivers an action plan for the company to improve its impacts.
An average Impact Score of 54 out of 100
Of the more than 8,000 French companies that have completed their Impact Score (with an average result of 54 out of 100), there are currently 16 clothing manufacturers. At the same time, an anonymous employee questionnaire, administered by IFTH as part of the GFF support program for the Les Ateliers Engagés label, has yielded some interesting results. The response rate was 70% out of a total of 332 employees consulted. "The element most often pointed out, specific to our sector, was the question of workshop temperature, demonstrating its essential nature in terms of adaptation to the climate challenge" points out Diego du Réau.
The three main pillars of the Impact Score - limiting negative externalities, sharing power and value, and positive-impact strategy - served as the common threads running through the three roundtables held on April 1, during which best practices from a handful of workshops were discussed.
How can we reduce our negative impacts?
Alexandre Clary, manager of the C2S workshop and Kidur brand (80 employees) and Caroline Andreau, HR and CSR project manager at Textile du Maine (around 50 employees), both "Les Ateliers Engagés" label holders, testified at the first table, entitled "how to reduce negative impacts?".
Alexandre Clary, manager of the C2S workshop and Kidur brand (80 employees) and Caroline Andreau, HR and CSR project manager at Textile du Maine (around 50 employees), both "Les Ateliers Engagés" label holders, testified at the first table, entitled "how to reduce negative impacts?"."
"We've embarked on a common-sense approach, made up of lots of small projects. It's not about knocking down a mountain in one fell swoop. In the end, we realized that it saved us money. And thanks to this approach, we are now more serene about the audits regularly carried out by our customers", summed up Caroline Andreau (Textile du Maine).
Alexandre Clary (C2S and Kidur) and herself detailed some of these small projects or gestures which, put end to end, irrigate the river of CSR.
Textile du Maine, for example, encouraged its employees to turn off the lights during their breaks, insulated a wall in its north-facing workshop, and redesigned all the lighting by installing sensors to adapt the amount of artificial light (LED strips) to that diffused naturally. This has resulted in a significant reduction (over 10%) in energy consumption (heating and air conditioning). Finally, the deployment of solar panels on 160 m2 of shading has reduced the electricity bill by a quarter.
Weekly CSR working group
To involve his employees, Alexandre Clary, convinced that the "conviction of the head of the company is not enough", evokes the weekly meeting of a group of employees freed from their working hours, a representative sample of the company (garment making operators, supervisors, managers...). Together, they brainstorm on possible common-sense actions, such as improving waste flow, producing more economically, etc. These ideas are incorporated into the CSR action plan and regularly displayed around the company.
The manager also details the mobilizing project of eco-designing products. While this project was hardly compatible with his subcontracting business, it was, on the other hand, within the framework of his own men's ready-to-wear brand, Kidur. Relaunched in 2018, Kidur was registered in 1935, with a focus on strength and durability from the outset. It is now working to integrate a maximum of eco-designed materials (linen, Pyrenees wool, recycled cotton...), woven or knitted in France and using vegetable dyeing processes (pastel, indigo...). The aim is soon to present on the brand's website, for each product, the environmental display whose French regulations are about to be completed.
At Textile du Maine, Caroline Andreau describes the part reserved for CSR in the process of integrating new employees,"young or not so young". CSR actions are thus detailed to new recruits as soon as they arrive. After a week, they are given an astonishment report, to be completed within a month. The manager is convinced that this way of getting the workforce on board with what is "written into the company's DNA" partly explains the decrease in turnover, down from 17% in 2022 to 11% in 2024.
To illustrate the social involvement aspect of C2S and Kidur, Alexandre Clary evokes, for his part,"l'atelier des talents", the Home professional retraining scheme enabling "the detection of each person's abilities for a profession and the training of talents in three months". "We're an open company: anyone who wants to discover our professions is welcome, he explains.
"For the younger generations, CSR comes naturally. And if we want to attract tomorrow's talent, we have to go for it. It creates a dynamic, a lot of value in the company and allows every employee to take hold of a piece of it", concludes Alexandre Clary (C2S and Kidur).
How can you better share value and power within your workshop?
At the second round table, two company heads, Sophie Pineau, the CEO of Vendée outwear specialist Getex, and Christophe Sauvage, head of Atelier Concorde, a Mayenne-based shirt manufacturer, both employing around 50 people, illustrated another question through their best practices: how can value and power be better shared within one's workshop?
The answer lies in the implementation of Lean Management. "This methodology, which has brought about a major change for us with daily top-down and bottom-up communication, enables us to detect problems in the field and resolve them. It's an asset in steering our approach, which helped us to gain the 'Les Ateliers Engagés' label, explains Sophie Pineau (Getex).
When he took over Atelier Concorde, founded thirty years ago, two years ago, Christophe Sauvage found that employees had never really been consulted. This is what he is now doing via the Lean Management approach. "We bring collectivity, transparency of information and we communicate every day on objectives", he adds.
In both companies, gestures of solidarity sometimes emerge during these collective sessions, such as these proposals from employees to give their RTT days to colleagues facing personal problems.
Versatility and team spirit encouraged
On the value-sharing side, Christophe Sauvage (Atelier Concorde) started from scratch when he first arrived, running individual interviews, advocating versatility. A skills sheet has been created, noting mastery of the different stages in garment making. The salary scale now takes this into account, and organization has been facilitated. "Before, it happened that only one person was present for an operation!" confides Christophe Sauvage. At Getex, the remuneration system is based on both individual criteria (skills, seniority...) and collective criteria, to encourage team spirit.
The improved quality of life at work was also highlighted during this second round table. At Getex, this was taken into account as soon as Sophie Pineau took over the family business fifteen years ago, with the introduction of a physiotherapist's consultation to prevent RSI (Musculoskeletal Disorders). Since then, employees have carried out a series of warm-up exercises before starting their day. Above all, all employees were consulted ahead of the construction of the new plant in 2021. "We responded to all requests, such as offering employees a view of the outside or a break room worthy of the name", explains Sophie Pineau. Employees are also "on board" in this virtuous dynamic. As an example, a small group organizes a walk every Tuesday evening.
Comfort and good humor
At Atelier Concorde, the Score Impact questionnaire filled in by employees, although resulting in a good score (66 out of 100), nevertheless revealed a weak point: the premises, too cold in winter and too hot in summer. This problem has been corrected, and employees can now work in good conditions. Other material improvements - comfort mats, new chairs, etc. - have also been made. The company spirit has also evolved since Christophe Sauvage's partner, Corinne, joined the Human Resources team, and a number of friendly initiatives have been put in place. On the day of the round-table discussions, the company was in high spirits, with little April fools and cupcakes being handed out!
Finally, Sophie Pineau (Getex) talked about her company's actions as a stakeholder in the local economy, including fabric donations to associations (such as Vendée Ukraine, who turned them into...stretchers).
"How to have a positive impact on your ecosystem"
The third round table, looking at "How to have a positive impact on your ecosystem", featured the very "green" actions of Brocéliande Confection and C2000. We're all familiar with Alphonse Allais's phrase: "cities should be built in the country, the air is so much purer there!". The heads of these companies, Nora Garcia for the former and Bernard Blaizeau for the latter, applied this quip to their workshops. Both had come to describe their approaches, the latter with the help of his CSR project manager, Amandine Galiay.
For Brocéliande Confection, a ready-to-wear and garment making specialist employing some thirty staff in the heart of the Breton countryside, the approach seemed self-evident. "We're in a rural setting and had a large plot of land around our workshop to develop," explains Nora Garcia, who took over the company in 2022. So we called on local farmers to come and work on it."
Nature also helped combat a problem, as we've seen, recurrent in garment making. "As it was very hot in our workshop, we planted a whole hedge of fruit trees to cool the southern part of the building", says the manager.
A garden rather than a parking lot...
For atelier de couture C2000, a specialist in flou / soft dressmaking based on a brownfield site in Limoges, the green "card" seemed less obvious to play. But that's without counting on the sensitivity and...green thumb of its manager, who trained as a gardener before moving into the tailoring professions and then taking over C2000 twenty years ago.
"Rather than enlarge the parking lot, we preferred to install a garden", explains Bernard Blaizeau. The idea came to fruition at the time of the pandemic, a period during which his employees feared that supermarkets would be poorly supplied with fruit and vegetables. "The idea of a large orchard, with a market-gardening part, to gain autonomy, was then born". Several hectares have been transformed. All these plantings also bring coolness close to the workshop, which particularly suffered from the high temperatures in 2021 and 2022. A full-time gardener is recruited, even if Bernard Blaizeau happily passes on the rototiller.
"If the garden belongs to the company, anything that bears fruit is available to the 70 employees", explains Bernard Blaizeau, who refers, for example, to the 30 kilos of kiwis harvested last October. Staff members have direct access to the garden in the mornings, and often come to lunch under the kiwi pergola in fine weather. "This orchard has created a social bond. And it's good for everyone to be in contact with nature", stresses Amandine Galiay. In the same vein, beehives will also be deployed.
Educational virtues of a green haven
Bernard Blaizeau observes the educational virtues of this green haven for his 70 employees. "They've rediscovered a sense of the seasons, and now know when to plant, sow or harvest. They also realize that they are not alone, but part of the ecosystem. They now take greater care of the environment: they sort their waste more, pay more attention to water and electricity...".
The C2000 approach is appealing to younger and younger employees. When Bernard Blaizeau took over, he took on 16 employees. Today, there are 70, with an average age of under 40, compared with 56 when the new leader arrived.
With their inspiring testimonials, all these company managers were decidedly able to convince listeners of the need to act like the "citizens of the world that we are", as Sylvie Chailloux (GFF and Textile du Maine) emphasized. Octave Kleynjans (Impact France), for his part, encouraged companies to calculate their Impact Score, whether by visiting the latter's website, or via the link to that of the GFF.
These round tables also provided a concrete understanding of the benefits brought by the "Ateliers Engagés" labeling approach for companies that have launched out on their own, by structuring and giving greater visibility to their CSR commitment.
Promoting all French workshops, synonymous with quality and respectful of demanding social and environmental standards: this is also the mission of the Maison du Savoir-Faire et de la Création. Sylvie Maignan, the head of the Maison du Savoir-Faire et de Création, took the opportunity of these meetings to announce some good news: the platform connecting French principals and manufacturers is now also available in English... What better way to promote French manufacturing abroad!
Learn more about Les Ateliers Engagés: https://www.gff-groupement.fr/les-ateliers-engages/
Evaluate your Impact Score: https://gff.impactscore.positive-company.eu/
