Wasn’t the leather goods segment in crisis? Judging from some of the news that – periodically – break in France, it would seem that the only one in that state is the Italian one. For example, two months ago, an announcement was made by Manufacture du Cœur des Vosges (MCV), which belongs to Groupe SIS, of the construction of a new 350-employee leather goods factory near Épinal. Now it’s the turn of Manufacture Abbevilloise, a leather goods manufacturer based in Abbeville, which wants to rebuild the site in Amiens to turn it into a new plant (deadline: end of 2025/beginning of 2026).
Instead of a tannery
After a century, a leather goods factory will rise in place of a tannery. The location is Petit-Saint-Jean (in the district of Amiens), a city of 137,000 inhabitants two hours from Paris. A hundred years ago, there was a tannery near the Ballastière pond, while now on the same site there will be a leather goods factory. Manufacture Abbevilloise has outlined the project with which it intends to open a production site within a year and a half. According to francebleu.fr, an investment of about 1.3 million euro will be made for renovation and restoration work.
300 new jobs
300 jobs will be created with the opening of the new factory. The leather craftsmen will follow an in-house training project using CFMC (Centre de Formation des Métiers du Cuir) modules, launched in 2020. Manufacture Abbevilloise specializes in the production of leather accessories for luxury brands and is controlled by entrepreneur Arthur Pourchet through AP Holding (source entreprendre.fr).
But wasn’t leather goods in crisis?
At this point, it’s fair to ask whether the crisis affecting the production of bags and leather goods for luxury brands is limited to Italy. Because in just two months, two French companies have invested in the sector, presenting plans to build new production plants creating jobs for 650 new leather artisans when fully operational. Could this be a type of reshoring during which French fashion labels, during a non-expansionary phase, bring back the production volumes previously entrusted to Italian subcontractors?
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