DEEP LOCAL ROOTS AND A COMPLETE, INDEPENDENT SECTOR

Although it now employs far fewer people, the textiles sector in Midi-Pyrenees nevertheless remains the fourth largest textile-producing area in France, after Rhône-Alpes, Nord-Pas de Calais and Champagne-Ardennes. It is also the leading French manufacturing base for carded yarns and woollen materials.

 

 

One of the strengths of the textiles industry in Midi-Pyrenees is that this well-structured sector includes every production stage: a true platform encompassing everything from fibre to finished product (spinning, weaving, knitting, dry filling); another is the presence of industry leaders in clothing textiles and technical textiles, particularly for the automotive industry; and lastly the number of companies taking deliberate action to diversify rather than stick rigidly to traditional fields of operation.

In the Clothing sector, the trend is for companies to position themselves in niche and high added-value markets.

Technical textile materials are sought after by a wide range of markets, including PPE, health, automotive engineering, aviation, industry and building etc.  

 

A HIGH-PERFORMANCE, INNOVATIVE INDUSTRY

 

The textiles industry has 100 companies providing over 3,300 jobs and is concentrated in 2 local areas: the Pays d’Olmes (Ariège) and the Castres-Mazamet basin (Tarn).

Companies in the Midi-Pyrenees region are currently busy adapting to new products and new markets, particularly in the technical textile materials sector. They are combining their skills with the expertise of a great number of other industries, in connection with the 3 regional competitiveness clusters:

 AESE (Aviation, Space and Integrated Systems)
 Cancer Bio-Santé (Cancer Bio-Health)
 AGRIMIP Innovation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

QUALITY AND CREATIVITY IN CLOTHING

 

Downstream, there are 50 companies engaged in clothing manufacture, situated mainly in the Tarn and the Toulouse area.

 

Manufacturers have started a program of modernisation and innovation. Today, the clothing industry in the Midi-Pyrenees is involved chiefly in the production of high value-added items: designer, fashion, individually designed clothes, niche markets etc.  

Several local brands are still leaders in their market sector and some are firmly rooted in extremely successful distribution networks.