TrusTrace sets up shop in France, the heart of fashion, building a local team of three experts with deep roots in both fashion and technology. They have 50+ years of experience combined within this space. France, synonymous with fashion and luxury around the world, now faces an interesting fork in the road as the EU envisions a future with transparency and circularity in the fashion industry. TrusTrace is poised to partner with the region.
In the photo: Bruno Mattia, Head of Sales Development Southern Europe at TrusTrace and Fabienne Hindré, Solutions Expert and Business Consultant at TrusTrace
Meet the team
We interviewed our colleagues to get their take on the status quo of France’s fashion industry and their expertise on where things are headed. You’ll hear from both Bruno Mattia, Head of Sales Development Southern Europe with 20+ years working with PLM and Traceability solutions for international fashion brands, and Fabienne Hindré, Solutions Expert and Business Consultant at TrusTrace. She brings 30+ years of technical experience working within and for textile brands, including more than 20 years as Head of Collections at leading outdoor brand AIGLE.
INSIGHTS FROM THE EXPERTS
Q: Today we're talking about French fashion and what makes it unique in the global industry. Let's start with the legacy of France and fashion.
Bruno: France has a deep history in fashion because it’s the birthplace. So it's not just a trendsetter. It remains as the incubator where fashion is constantly evolving. This makes it both a cultural heritage and strategic industry for the French economy.
Q: Interesting. Can you elaborate on this culture of fashion innovation?
Bruno: Indeed, French fashion is like a testing lab of innovation. From developing new fabrics to creating state-of-the-art clothing designs, there's a constant push for fresh ideas. This focus on creativity goes hand-in-hand with high expectations for quality and unique products from the global market.
Q: How does this translate to the French economy?
Fabienne: The fashion industry is a major player. Think of all the world-renowned luxury brands based in France. But it's not just luxury goods; there's also a whole diversity of retail brands and DNVBs operating in different market segments and using a wide range of distribution channels. This diversity makes a significant contribution to the French economy.In 2018, fashion contributed 3.1% to the French GDP (Source: IFM).
Q: Bruno, you’ve moved away from consulting brands on product lifecycle management (PLM) to now advancing the adoption of traceability for fashion.
Why is traceability so important?
Bruno: If you take a step back, you realize that upstream of Tier 1, the supply chain and sourcing are the only remaining domains which are not under control unlike every value process before (design and development) and after (distribution, sales). Traceability allows brands to track a product's journey, from raw material to finished garment, and whether or not that was done in compliance with the brand’s policies. The long-standing reputation of a brand depends heavily on the consistency of quality and durability, and I would even go to say this is not just in France but in much of the Southern Europe region. This is what the consumer expects each time they choose your brand over others, and traceability helps protect that.
Q: Is there a difference in how luxury brands traceability?
Bruno: Yes, from what I continue to see, it will depend on the maturity and business drivers of the brand. Moreover we have to keep in mind that there is no unified standard, i.e. no ISO for Traceability in Fashion or Textiles, so some brands are defining their own. In the first Traceability Playbook, we follow the ISO 9000:2015 definition.
Luxury brands, known for their meticulous craftsmanship, often have very tight control over their supply chains for quality purposes of their most valuable part of the business – leather goods – however, when you peel back that layer you see there’s less visibility into supply chain compliance for Ready-to-Wear. This is where implementing traceability could have the most impact on all business fronts especially to keep up with EU regulations.
Q: How about retailers?
As for retailers, they may focus more on distribution and might have a less detailed traceability system that can register data for all the goods they are selling. However they are subjected to the same regulations and ensuring the product information will follow the obligations of AGEC, Ecoscore or the Digital Product Passport.
Q: What is the role of government regulations in traceability?
Fabienne: Regulations are not the main driving force behind a tool-based approach to traceability today, but they do influence it. On the one hand, they formalize what brands have already put in place. And on the other, they open up new fields for them to transform and evolve their business models.
Objectively speaking, requirements like the Ecodesign approach, encourage creativity by thinking in terms of durability, repairability and recycling, which naturally implies traceability at each stages of production as per the required specifications. This also applies to materials recycled from waste. We need tracking throughout the supply chain in order to measure if we are indeed doing what we said we will do, therefore it's not rocket science. It's achievable with a traceability platform that will enable luxury & fashion brands to collect data from several upstream suppliers at once, instead of contacting them one by one.
Q: Looking ahead, what's the future of traceability in French fashion?
Bruno: The brands best positioned to stay in the frontlines of fashion innovation are implementing robust traceability systems as their approach for supply chain compliance. They aren’t taking point solutions to address one regulation at a time; instead they are looking beyond the regulatory environment to anticipate traceability as their strategy that leads to alignment with the EU’s circularity vision.
This type of transformation is a marathon, and the brands at the front are not wasting it on solving short term problems. In the last year they’ve quickly gained a lot of knowledge on the regulations that impact fashion, and they use this information to strengthen corporate sustainability practices and find the best traceability platform, which ultimately preserves the valued legacy and reputation of the brand.
Q: What’s your advice to brands that are looking for new technology to help them solve for supply chain compliance?
Bruno: First, check with your suppliers to see which systems they are already using and if they have a recommendation. Getting their cooperation to share supply chain data is the key to supply chain compliance, and you may be surprised to find out which traceability systems they are already using.
Secondly, the lack of standardized systems can be a hurdle, but go with a broad traceability solution that prepares you for the future. Doing this can be easier for you to get started tomorrow in collecting data for multiple regulations and corporate due diligence needs at once.
I believe these are key for French brands to maintain longstanding position as the innovator, and lead the way to Ecodesign and circularity in the fashion industry.
Thank you Bruno and Fabienne for the share insights! If you would like to learn more on how TrusTrace is partnering with brands in France, Italy and Spain for traceability and supply chain compliance, register your interest with us here.
