Our new partner workshops for manufacturing.
We have been there since the beginning of April, the models of the new collection are sewn in the Maghreb.
I'll explain all the details of the process of changing workshops right here 👇
With experience, and the three months of delivery delay with the previous workshop, you won't put all your eggs in one basket has never spoken to me so much.
So here I am looking for two workshops, with the same Maline criteria since our beginnings:
- workshops on a human scale, which prioritize quality over quantity.
- made by the right people and in good conditions.
- the know-how in lingerie and swimwear of course.
- new Maline criterion: broaden searches in terms of geolocation to nearby Europe, Mediterranean basin at the most.
So I naturally turn to Italy since some of our fabrics come from the North of Italy.
It was very complicated to find, at least for my experience: very few production workshops speak English, I did not feel an openness of communication to take on new customers. The Italians are more expert in weaving materials than in making, in any case there are many more companies in this field.
I then focus my research simultaneously on Portugal and the Maghreb: these countries are renowned for their expertise in lingerie and swimwear manufacturing.
After several weeks of research, I found myself in regular contact with two workshops: an artisanal workshop of around thirty seamstresses in Marrakech, and a family business 2 hours north of Tunis, which employs 200 people.
The first one being specialized in classic/menstrual lingerie and bathing, the second one in bathing only.
Both are SMETA audited, one of the most common ethical audit formats.
It encompasses four pillars: health and safety, labor standards, professional ethics and the environment.
So we started testing with these two workshops which proved very conclusive 💪
Both qualitatively and humanly. And it's good for morale, like really.
Where I spend the most time is with and at the Marrakech workshop: they have taken the majority of our production, the Tunisia workshop takes a small part.
I went there at the beginning of the year and stayed with them for several weeks so that we could get everything sorted out: the production of our existing models, the developments, the organization, the quality check, etc.
It is a small team of five seamstresses who are in charge of Maline products: Fatima, Mina, Yasmine, Doha, and Karima.
Not forgetting Mohamed, the workshop manager, who was previously associated with a Spanish woman when I met them: he has now taken over alone, and will soon integrate his wife into the team, who will manage our production line among other things. I know he is eager and I am also eager for him because I have we are in contact by message and on the phone several times a day, and he has much bigger clients than me, but he takes the time, and it is very appreciable.
Ps: the gentleman in the photo is Kamel, the bath model maker with whom I worked on the new products. I took a photo of him because I felt he was very comfortable with the camera and I was right, he then showed me a photo where he is with Charles Aznavour in Marrakech, he made his tailor-made suits at the time before specializing in knitwear!
I deliberately didn't take pictures with the rest of the team in "hello, we're smiling and we're together" mode because I prefer it to be more natural, than to ask just to be able to show it to you.
Pauline