France: Heart of the Textile Industry and Fashion
France, which an area of approximately 644.000 km² is among the world’s most favorite countries with Paris, the Eiffel Tower, the Palace of Versailles, Notre Dame Cathedral, Bordeaux vineyards, Napoleon and Maria Antoinet. France also comes into prominence with its history in fields such as diplomacy, history, technology, human rights and free- doms, architecture, art and sports. The capital of France which is located in Western Europe is Paris, It is also one of the most popular places in the fields of science, culture and art. Established on both sides of the Seine river, the city is, in many respects, the most popular of European countries, reflecting the atmosphere of business life like London and New York. There are 12 regions in mainland. The five regions are located overseas and are reserved for territories connected to France. Among the largest cities; Marseille, Lyon, Nice, Nantes, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Nimes, Aix-en-Provence, Rouen and Toulouse.
France; also the Council of Europe, the European Court Of Human Rights, the European Parliament (EP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the International Police The organization (INTERPOL) are hosted.
IN MANY FAMOUS BRANDS HAVE FRANCE’S SIGNATURE
France, one of the largest net exporter countries in the garment, was seen as the outlet of world fashion. For this reason, many world brands that we have heard a lot of names due to their qualities and authenticity have come from France. Balmain, Chanel, Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Givenchy, Lacoste, Christian Lacroix, Lanvin, Christian Louboutin, Louis Vuitton, Chloe, Hermes, Balenciaga, Cacharel, Nina Ricci, Celine, Isabel Marant, Guy Laroche, Pierre Cardin; They are the big brands we often hear about the signature of France.
FRANCE PLAYS AN ACTIVE ROLE IN THE FIELD OF TEXTILES
Rapidly growing textile industry of France, continues to be the focus of Turkye and many countries around the world. The French textiles market remains a highly-developed, mature market with many domestic and international players. In 2018, the French textile industy was comprised of approximately 548 companies averaging 20 employees with a total workforce of 58.240 employees. Apparel accounts for 43.9% of the market’s total value, while fabrics represent about 30%.
The industry in France, although large, is dominated by several samll, niche companies selling a small quantity of highly technical and high value porducts. In France, the textile industry, can be examined in 3 main branch- es as the yarn sub-sector, the weaving sub-sector (fabric manufacturing) and fabric finishing and finishing.
France is one of the leading technical textile manufacturers in Europe together with Germany and Italy. One third of the country’s total textile production is made in the technical textiles sector. The French functional and technical textile industry operates in many industries, mainly in the fields of industrial textiles, aerospace, construction, automotive, medical, protective clothing and sanitary pads. In France, the main consumers of technical textiles are industry (20%), medical (16%), protection (10%), constuction (10%) and agro textiles (8%).
The main distributors of clothing are specialized chains (23%), independent sellers (13%) and süper/hypermarkets (14%). Similar to previous years, the majör textile suppliers by country, are China, followed by Italy, Bangladesh, Turkey, India, Germany, Tunisia, Belgium, Portugal and Pakistan. UCMTF regroups 30 members companies.
Some are world leaders on their markets; others, which often are small and medium size companies, originally family-owned, develop, sell and service specialized machines with a high technological level. For all these companies most of their business is done on export markets: regional export markets in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, but also in the Americas, and increasingly in Asia where the textile business is developing at a quick pace. Exports account for more than 91% of the companies’ turnover with a total of approximately 1 Billion Euros (US$ 1,2 billion).
The distribution of French textile machinery exports according to the sectors in 2017 is as follows: 56.1% Weaving preparation and weaving, 15.9% Dyeing and Finishing, 12.7% Nonwovens, 12.4% Spinning preparation, Spinning, Twisting and Texturing, 2%, 9 Accessories and Spare Parts.
When we look at the distribution of French textile machinery exports by regions in 2017, we can see that; 49.4% Asia, 21.9% Western Europe, 9,2% Turkey, 8% North America, 7.1% Central and Eastern Eu- rope, 3% Africa, 1,3% Central and South America.
