Jeans made in France in the window of Jules and Pimkie for a price ranging from 40 to 60 euros? Fashion Cube hopes to be able to offer it from 2022. The clothing retailer owned by the Mulliez Family Association (2.3 billion euros in turnover) announced on Monday May 10 that it wanted to inaugurate a factory clothing store, the Fashion Cube Denim Center, in the fourth quarter of 2021, in Neuville-en-Ferrrain, near Tourcoing (Nord).
This plant, which will mobilize 3.5 million euros of investment, including 800,000 provided by the Hauts-de-France region and the European metropolis of Lille, should produce 180,000 units during its first year of operation and 400 000 per year, eventually.
Marginal but “significant” production
To the brands Pimkie, Jules, Orsay, Grain de malice and Bizzbee (around 2,000 stores), it will supply more expensive models than those which usually come from Asia or Turkey. Without forcing them to charge the selling price of 100 to 150 euros for brands of jeans made in France by 1083 and Atelier Tuffery, pioneers in the relocation of jeans production in France.
The Denim Center could thus provide about 6% of the jeans sold by the Pimkie brand. Although marginal, this production is nonetheless “Significant”, claims Christian Kinnen, project manager, because ” this shows that it is possible to manufacture jeans in France for an affordable cost ”. To reduce its costs, the factory will have recourse to the automation of certain tasks, including the making of the pockets, the decorative stitching and the fitting of the belt and loops, in addition to the cutting phases, also carried out by machines. Initially, Fashion Cube hoped to produce T-shirts. “But the technologies are not yet mature enough”, reports Mr. Kinnen.
By 2030, the factory could create its clothes using only recycled or reused materials
The distributor has therefore fallen back on denim, another key part of the French wardrobe. In addition, he has chosen the production of a garment which many denounce the environmental impact: the jeans use cotton fabrics woven abroad, and the washes and treatments that it undergoes are greedy in water. The Fashion Cube Denim Center will use “With laser and ozone to wash out” the pants, specifies Mr. Kinnen, who assures that the water consumption will be “Forty times” lower than that of other jeans production factories.
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