3 questions for . . . Freddy Marcy, Mulliez-Flory* Group Supervisory Board member and Fédération Française du Prêt à Porter Féminin Administrator

‘We must preserve and cultivate our savoir-faire and develop innovation’.

Freddy Marcy is Operations Director for the Mulliez-Flory Group and serves on the Group’s Supervisory Board. Trained as an engineer, he has 50 years experience working for textile-apparel businesses. Mr. Marcy is a man of convictions who is committed to professional organizations − the URIC (Regional Association for Textile Manufacturers in Northern France), the Fédération Française du Prêt à Porter Féminin, and the UFIH (French Association of Clothing Manufacturers). He shares his views on businesses in the sector.

With your professional history and your position in an imagewear-specialist company, you’ve been part of the French textile industry evolution. What has been your reaction to these changes?

The textile industry has suffered badly over the last 30 years. I was active professionally throughout this period, but I never lost my deep-seated enthusiasm for businesses and their survival. The experience gave me three main principles: realism, pragmatism, and openness to outside influences. I began my career in an international group and today I’m a director in a PME (small or medium sized business). I believe this is the best structure for our profession; the local context and the ability to respond quickly and be creative are ideal.

At Mulliez-Flory, we control the entire value chain, from defining projects with our clients to delivering the finished products. We produce prototypes and small series in-house and in nearby locales. Our three factories in Tunisia handle the middle part of the manufacturing chain, and we fill other orders by outsourcing to Asia. It’s important to take market realities into account, and we recognize that we can’t do everything. It’s also important to evolve, bounce back, and know how to get the most benefits from every opportunity. However, in this era of change, what remains fundamental is, on the one hand, to protect and cultivate our savoir-faire, and, on the other, to be innovative.

Let’s talk about the key issue of preserving expertise, are there any changes or improvements to be made?

In general, the more we can bring education and business together, the better we can preserve our savoir-faire. Today there are many programs for this, for example internships, apprenticeships, work/study contracts, etc. It’s also clear that we need to be more involved in schools’ organisation, and perhaps even welcome teachers into businesses.

Often, one of the major problems in passing on skills is tied to looking ahead. PME mangers are faced with an avalanche of details and a multitude of priorities. This workload sometimes prevents them from thinking about mid-term goals and future employment needs. We have to invest in the next generation before it’s too late!

The industry’s infiltration by low-wage countries has contributed to our profession’s poor image. Faced with this, we have to react and focus on our industry’s modern appeal to attract young people. In this arena, the Fédération’s positive communications efforts are precious.

You were speaking about innovation, how does that concept apply to all of this? How do you envision the future, 2015 for example?

Concerning innovation, we have many assets in France, such as our technical centres and regional business clusters. Here again, business leaders need to come together and join forces to optimize research. For research projects, nothing beats working in a network. The network is already in place, but we need to help business leaders keep it healthy and monitor the sector. And here again, the role of professional organizations is very important.

As far as the future, I believe we’re at a crossroads. We’ve talked about the complexity of the PME business leader’s role. Now, more than ever, he needs to take the time to develop the broader perspective needed to enter new export markets, anticipate human resource needs, develop new products, and more. Today, everyone agrees that France’s survival depends on small and medium sized businesses. Their role in society has never gotten so much attention. We need to take advantage of this debate and cut through the procrastinations and speeches to make the right decisions for our PMEs.

For 2015, I’m not confident about the short-term future, the overall context is unstable. The only way to move beyond these challenges is to fight! And to be better than ever by being flexible, setting the right prices, identifying complementary markets, and knowing how to motivate our teams. We can often be surprised at the inner resources of the people we work with. A business is also made of human capital; we have to be motivated and know how to share our enthusiasm with others.

* The Mulliez-Flory Group designs and manufactures imagewear and household linens for local governments and businesses and state-owned companies in every sector. The consolidated annual turnover for 2013 was €56 million, and the company, directed by Jacques Gindre, has 240 employees in France. The site covers 16,000 m2 and includes a Design Centre, a Research Department, a Prototype Atelier, Sales and Marketing Departments and Administrative Offices. The international supply depot delivers six million articles each year (22,700 per day) to clients throughout Europe. Manufacturing takes places in three company-owned factories in Tunisia, which employ 450 people, and in two factories in Asia.