Relocation, flax and hemp cultivation, reuse… Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s plan to revive the French textile industry

Relocating a consumer clothing sector, developing the cultivation of linen and hemp, structuring reuse and recycling sectors: Jean-Luc Mélenchon unveils this Friday his “productive investment plan” for textiles, aiming for 10% of new clothing made in France by 2032. While only 3% of clothing purchased in France is made in France today, the presidential candidate of La France insoumise, who is visiting the show during the day of Made in France, wants to “recreate a real consumer clothing sector”, going “from culture to manufacturing, including transformation”.

The objective is to increase the share of clothing sold made in France to 10% by 2032, or an additional 80,000 tonnes per year, by mobilizing “3.45 billion euros over the five-year period”, according to this investment plan consulted by AFP. This relocation will be based on the massive development of local ecological crops, and in particular “a rise in power” of flax and hemp, whose cultivation areas will increase by 40,000 hectares each, to reach 240,000 ha for flax, and 65,000 ha for hemp.

A “volume approach”

The plan also plans to relocate the industrial stages of processing, spinning and weaving. To lower costs for the general public, it first focuses on a “volume approach” and robotization, supporting “the emergence of an ecological mass production sector” through a dedicated public fund. It also intends to use public procurement, estimated at “722 million euros per year”, to guarantee opportunities for the entire sector. To protect this national production from dumping, LFI proposes to establish “obligations for private orders of clothing from companies”, to set up a “bonus-malus system” to tax the most polluting imported clothing, to ban dangerous chemical substances and to create a “national French clothing platform”.

The plan also aims for “25% of clothing marketed in France” to come from “reuse or the circular economy”, with “public management” of this sector, and plans to reach “70,000 tonnes of textile reused in France in 2032” and 200,000 tonnes recycled (compared to 60,000 today). The plan finally provides support of “10 million additional euros per year” for technical textiles, as well as a “major national training plan” with France Travail in order to create “at least 55,000 direct jobs”.