Question 9912 — employment and activity

Summary

Mrs. Aurélie Trouvé alerts the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty to the situation that the Eminence de Sauve factory is going through. Founded in 1944, Eminence is a historic company in Gard, renowned for its production of underwear made in France. It has two sites in the department: the clothing factory in Sauve, which employs around sixty employees, mainly women, and the site main office of Aimargues, which has around 360 employees. Since May 2, 2025 and until August 2, 2025, the Sauve factory has been in partial operation, with 50% working time for the 60 jobs on the site. This measure has direct and serious consequences on employees, whose average net salary is 1,400 euros and who have to deal with a loss of around 200 euros per month. Alternatives have certainly been proposed, such as the transfer to the Aimargues site with a free shuttle, but which would extend the travel time beyond reason; the employees concerned would also see their profession change radically, moving from manufacturing to logistics. In this context, the MP notes the inconsistency of managerial decisions with the financial situation of the company and fears the upcoming relocation of the clothing workshop. In fact, the Eminence's management justifies this partial activity by an “overall fall in demand for products manufactured in France” and a “significant reduction” in the order books of its clients (- 68% between 2021 and 2025), as well as by inflation, which affects the competitiveness of its brands. However, trade unionists and local elected officials are concerned about production volumes which are deliberately outsourced, notably in Morocco, Tunisia and Bangladesh, under the pretext of lower manufacturing costs. This situation is all the more troubling as the turnover of the Delta Galil group (owner since 2018) is increasing sharply and that of Eminence is not showing any particular difficulty, even showing a constant increase in recent years. In 2024, Eminence generated more than 41 million euros in margin, compared to 38 million in 2023, indicating an overall profitable business. In addition, a particularly alarming element is the fact that Eminence has won a major public contract for the supply of 250,000 items for the national gendarmerie by the end of 2024-beginning of 2025. However, according to staff representative organizations, the company has delegated to a subsidiary located in Bangladesh the production – a contract worth 9 million euros – of sweaters and underwear concerned. A manufacturing in France clause could have been included for just 1 euro more per item, thus allowing local production to be maintained. But the management reports that the desire to contract at the lowest price lies with the Ministry of the Interior. Faced with this critical situation, the MP asks the Minister if he confirms the desire of the Ministry of the Interior for cheaper products, without consideration for their country of production. Also, she asks him what support he intends to put in place to avoid the disappearance of this business essential to the local economic fabric. More broadly, what measures will be put in place to condition public aid and public contracts on manufacturing made in France? It is indeed unacceptable for public funds to finance the relocation of jobs which could be maintained on French territory.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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