Four o'clock in the morning, on a Thursday. The Hast team meets at the Gare de Lyon in Paris to visit our eyewear workshop. A few hours by train later, here is the station of Oyonnax, a small town in Ain, very close to Switzerland. We have chosen a local and French production to design our first pair of glasses . A visit that will allow us to better understand the history and the stages of production of glasses made in France, but also to grasp the challenges that French industries face in the face of the relocation of production. A visit that we filmed and that we therefore invite you to see and read in this article.
Oyonnax, the cradle of French eyewear
The Oyonnax Valley – as well as Morez, in the Jura – is the historic cradle of French eyewear. Acetate work began with the production of combs, which women of the Grand Siècle used to style their hair. But stylistic developments and innovations quickly made the comb obsolete and the region's industries then specialized in eyewear, which was based on the same work on the material. Before the multiple waves of offshoring at the end of the 20th century, many companies worked on eyewear. But many of them were under pressure to lower costs and had to deal with Chinese manufacturing. Some workshops, like the one we chose to work with, believed in a return to made in France, which was not without its difficulties. The pro-offshoring years were difficult, particularly because many brands refused to pay more for more expensive production... The factories were then abandoned and suffered from a lack of orders. Fortunately, the current period is one of a return to the valorization of quality work, well done, local, and rewarding those who believed in spite of everything, in the relevance of French production. This is the case of our workshop which recently obtained the EPV label, living heritage company, which distinguishes French companies with excellent artisanal and industrial know-how.
New issues
Consumers, increasingly attentive to the production conditions of the parts they buy, are campaigning for a return to local, European and French production. This is obviously good news for the French industry! But bringing production back to France is not as simple as it seems. First in terms of costs, because French production is necessarily a victim of the comparative advantages of other countries in terms, in particular, of labor costs. Then because the increase in demand leads to a saturation of the production lines of human-sized companies like our workshop. Few workshops have protected their know-how, and it is sometimes complex to recruit qualified personnel for certain types of positions. Made in France therefore faces a real challenge in terms of training, and the attractiveness of textile and craft professions. Saturation of schedules and difficulties in hiring are two major problems for production plants, particularly in the eyewear sector. Faced with the expected increase in demand – further accentuated by the Covid crisis – some workshops will have to invest heavily to modernize and expand their production lines. This is the case of our workshop, whose manager decided to produce custom-made machines in order to reduce the arduousness of certain manual tasks. Training employees on several positions simultaneously also helps to avoid the monotony of work and to empower workers, who thus become more and more experts in eyewear. They will later be able to do their own training. Some positions in fact require more than a year of apprenticeship before being able to work independently.
The question of ecology
The interest of a French production is also the assurance of working with actors aware of the realities. In addition to recovering and recycling all unused material, our workshop is committed to keeping its production site as central as possible to facilitate access by bike or on foot. For those who have to travel by car, the company's entire vehicle fleet is electric and terminals are made available to employees in front of the factory.
Made in France can therefore only come through collective work and trust, between brands choosing to produce as locally as possible, and workshops, which redouble their efforts to revalue their unique know-how. This is the choice we made for our first glasses!
Three pairs of French sunglasses, one pair with gray tortoiseshell , one pair with brown tortoiseshell and one pair with black tortoiseshell . The frames are made of Italian acetate and the lenses have category 3 sun protection. The rivets are mounted by hand in an artisanal manner. High-end models, the final touch to an impeccable summer look.
