Leathergoods expansion suggests Haute-Loire strategy shift was correct
06/06/2017
Local politicians in Yssingeaux in Haute-Loire in central-south-eastern France have called the project “the best jobs news we have had in the region in the last five years”.
In 2011, a factory run by lingerie manufacturer Lejaby in Yssingeaux closed down with the loss of 90 jobs. The following year, manufacturing group Sofama acquired the site and received help from the state to retrain the Lejaby workforce for leathergoods production.
Now run by Sofama subsidiary Ateliers du Meygal, the site is flourishing. So much so that Ateliers du Meygal now employs 180 people and has announced its intention to recruit 150 more in the next two years; it will also open up a second production facility at the site in Yssingeaux before September 2018 and launch its own leathergoods training school there.
Now president of the regional government of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Laurent Wauquiez was one of the politicians that supported the initial Sofama project. On hearing of the expansion plans, Mr Wauquiez recently told French media: “The intuition that we had [in 2012] was to effect a bit of a shift and to set our strategy up on the pillar of French savoir-faire and excellence.” He said that in the last five years, companies linked to the luxury sector have created 1,000 new jobs in Haute-Loire.
Share this story:
