‘Out of 3 billions clothes manufactured each year, only 3% are Made In France’

Interview with Guillaume Gibault, Founder & CEO of Le Slip Français

Le Slip Français is 11 years old. Created by Guillaume Gibault, on the basis of a bet between friends. The company has since evolved. Now a BCorp-certified company and Entreprise à Mission, Le Slip Français intends to 'reinvent the French textile industry with panache'. And we can say that the bet is quite successful.

With its 21 million euros revenues and 110 employees, the company does not limit itself to Made in France producing and distributing underwear. It has developed a new B2B business: les Ateliers du Slip to help fashion brands relocate their activities. In a context of generalized inflation, and regulation on the carbon footprint but also on a generalized demand for more traceability, the Slip Français is an entry point for relocations. 

It's quite funny to see that most of fashion brands were produced in France not so long ago and then they left. How can you explain that they would like to relocate now?

Today, mass distribution, luxury goods, and fashion brands are looking to relocate, but the question of how and where to start quickly arises. Brands such as Damart, Celio or Système U come to le Slip Français to provide them with relocation solutions but also product development, packaging, carbon footprint, and traceability, all on a turnkey basis. This more recent activity fits in well with our corporate mission by trying to respond to the crisis exit scenario offered by Made In France. 

In 30 years, they have totally 'unlearned'. Whether it's the trades themselves, the fact that there is no longer a team on site, the ecosystem, etc. Generally speaking, the textile industry has lost its technical and commercial know-how. For the last 30 years, 80% of the jobs have gone.

But can we imagine that we can relocate everything to France? 

Our ambition, as a first step, is to go beyond the 5% of local manufacturing. Today, we put 3 billions items of clothing on the market in France each year, or 5,000 pieces per minute. That's just enormous. Out of these 3 billions, only 3% are manufactured in France. In 12/18 months, we would like to go to 5%. This should create a knock-on effect, boost morale in the workshops, which will allow us to hire and also to invest in machines more quickly. 

Above all, it will allow us to industrialize with real volumes. When Système U comes to position tens of thousands of parts, it's not the same as if a brand, like ours, comes to position 250 parts. The industry is a business of volume and long time and the stake is there. We have to get the pump going again, with all the economic issues at stake, but with the price equation as a big brake... 

Considering the variety of needs from the actors, we must be as smart as possible to find the right industrial equation. Here is the key: industrialize, find productivity and lower prices.

So, the 100% Made In France is not a dream? 

If we are clear about the macro-economic environment, there is no turning back. Will we be able to go back 90% of the way? I don't think so, but setting a reasonable objective of 20 to 30% made in France in 5 years is still possible. But we have to get started!

What role can all the players play in this reindustrialization? 

The State is playing its role in defining a stable framework, to accompany the 700 textile projects initiated by the  French ‘Plan de Relance’, it is huge. There are means deployed through a range of support, including PGE, which has worked well. There are also subsidies to the Ademe and the BPI on innovative projects, so the state is very present. It's up to the entrepreneurs to do the job too!

And what about the investors in all this? 

Today, we talk about extra-financial criteria, but the reality is that the only reading that everyone makes is the Ebitda. For me, a company with a mission is about conviction. BCorp is about conviction and when you try to move the lines, you are very quickly caught up by your Ebitda. My modest reading is that investment funds, even those with the impact ones, talk about extra-financial criteria but this is rarely the first level of reading. My first reading is that by producing in France, I make 2X less margin than everyone else. Is there not a new financing model?

Let's go back to the impact issues in textiles. What are they? 

They are of 3 kinds: 

• an economic impact with the creation of permanent jobs in our territories, a real plus for certain regions that are completely devastated; 

• a social or societal impact with a strong focus on training and inclusion in all its forms, whether we are thinking of disabled workers, those who are far from employment, or even prisoners. I was invited by the Minister of Justice to the Bois d'Arcy prison to see how textiles can potentially intervene. There is a real recruitment challenge. Today, we no longer have a school for manual trades. People newly arrived on the French territory still have these skills, but they must be able to connect with the ecosystem! We can count on associations like the Fabrique Nomade for that. We are dealing with jobs that have always existed and that are not necessarily technical but that require training time with a great potential to create social links. It is indeed very easily localized. 

• the environmental impact. When you make a product 100% Made in France, you can save up to 50% of carbon emissions. If you take the example of a full Made in France T-shirt, it is 5 kgs of CO2. The same T-shirt made in Bangladesh or elsewhere, it is 10kg of CO2 emissions. In this, you have 10% of short circuit. If it comes by boat, and not by plane, you save 10% of CO2. Upstream, all the phases that require heavy industry, weaving, knitting, takes you to decarbonized energy in France versus coal elsewhere. Basically, if you are totally Made In France, you can save up to 50% of carbon impact. So with the exact same amount of 3 billion clothes, you save 50% of carbon.

What is the right economic equation? 

We found it for the Slip Français. With 2 millions euros of Ebitda in 2021 for 100% Made In France, we can say that the bet is won but it remains a daily challenge when electricity increases by more than 50%. On our B2C scope, we came out of the start-up phase just before Covid after two rounds of financing and at a growth rate of 50% per year for 8 years. We continue to be in a realistic and sustainable profitability plan on the B2C part. We're not too worried about the B2B scope because it is a positive contributor to Ebitda. And overall, in the Made In France equation, on a case-by-case basis for each market segment, we have to find the right entry price, the right selling price to achieve a profitable equation, which is not easy to find. If it were the case, we would not have gone any further to produce! Ingenuity, productivity, evangelization to the final customer, it's a subtle mix even if more and more people are sensitive to the carbon issue. 80% of French people say they are ready to buy Made In France but they are ready to pay 10 to 15% more where today it is 50 to 60% more! 

You presented your future factory at the last Made In France trade show. Can you tell us the idea behind it? 

There was a desire to show the general public what we are talking about here! Because people, when they read a press article or your newsletter, they will understand rationally what we say but until you have seen a machine running, the time needed to make an underwear, it is difficult to become aware of the value of the good. We had in our heart, after 10 years, to show that to these 100,000 visitors and to pass the message: you have a role to play. We saw incredible scenes of encounters with our 25 partner companies and 80 workers who were making underwear in real time. When people saw that it took 15 minutes to make a pair of underwear and that it had holes, there was a certain humility that was expressed. They say to themselves "it is that to manufacture a clothing? But how can it be worth 5 euros in a supermarket? So we realize that this system is not sustainable and this in any economy of the world!