The Colbert Committee tent was set up in the parking lot of the Cholet exhibition center (Maine et Loire), in front of the armored vehicles of the army, which recruits 16,000 active military personnel, and the pavilion dedicated to police functions. The luxury promotion association has chosen this “Carrefour for the orientation of professions and companies” to present “handheld professions” and promote open training to secondary and high school students.
On Friday, November 22, starting at 9 a.m., a column of buses disembarked hundreds of teenagers from the region, an important fashion production area in France. The crowd is dense. In three days, nearly 16,000 people came to see the stands of a dozen luxury brands. They learned about slip stitching to attach a braid to tweed at Chanel, porcelain moldings at Bernardaud, or leather coloring at Louis Vuitton.
With her fingers stained with red ink, after having painted the label holder of a suitcase, Raziella Cailleau says she does not want “do this as a job”. At 13 years old she sees herself “be a stylist”. Lola Raboin is also destined for this role “Who makes you dream”but he knows that first he will join a clothing workshop. This 16-year-old high school student, in a vocational baccalaureate in the fashion and clothing sector, in Cholet, is there “get an internship at Chanel in 2026”. From early in the morning, he gravitates around Denis Ridard, former head of the luxury house’s braiding workshop, who came, with thimble on his finger, to encourage vocations.
In search of “hands”
This demonstration “reassures parents and their children by introducing them to everyone who is recruiting”underlines Bénédicte Epinay, general delegate of the Colbert Committee. “Basically, we are all here to find those to replace the baby boomers in our workshops”says Sylvie Chailloux, president of Textile du Maine, a subcontractor for luxury brands.
But there is an emergency. The sector is hiring throughout France. The Colbert Committee estimates that, in this industry which directly or indirectly employs 615,600 people in France, 20,000 positions would be filled in 2024. Most were born in the workshops recently created by large manufacturers, others are emerging.
Hermès, which for ten years has opened an average of one leather goods store a year, plans three more in France by 2025. And, this year, LVMH, which employs almost 10,000 artisans, “It had 3,500 positions to cover the so-called “excellence” professions, of which around 10% were in creation and 30% in craftsmanship., explains Alexandre Boquel, director of professions of excellence, within the group that has 120 factories in France, representing 280 professions. Your competitors are also on deck. Longchamp is “We are constantly looking for leather workers”observes David Brugel, industrial director of the brand, in charge of five workshops in France (900 people). In Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Van Cleef & Arpels is looking for staff for its two new workshops in Châteauneuf-sur-Isère (Drôme), near Romans-sur-Isère, and Dorat (Puy-de-Dôme). Ultimately, they will employ between 500 and 600 people.
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