Understanding traceability - Made in France

In this series of articles, we'll take a look at the various terms that refer to notions of traceability, and what these notions imply from an environmental point of view:

• Designed in France
• Made in France
• Origine France Garantie
• European Ecolabel

Before we begin, we'd like to remind you of the importance of traceability, and re-explain the different stages in the manufacture of a product.

Why is traceability important?

Traceability is essential on 3 levels: transparency, social issues and environmental issues.

Transparency

Virtually total traceability ensures that consumers have access to all product information, and that nothing is concealed from them.

Social issues

The closer the stages are to your home, the greater the chance that the product will support the local economy (it's up to you to define local!).

Environmental impact

Stages close to each other reduce the impact of transport. What's more, most European energy mixes are less impactful than those of the Middle East or Asia, which are based much more on fossil fuels(note that this rule cannot be generalized).

💡 What's more, with precise traceability information, we can have more accurate impact results, on Waro for example.

Product manufacturing stages

Generally speaking, a product is built up in multiple stages, with semi-finished products and intermediate manufacturing stages taking place in many different countries.

Example of a t-shirt

The diagram below shows the main stages in the manufacture of a classic t-shirt:

An example from the furniture sector

In the furniture industry, production methods vary enormously depending on the type of furniture and materials used. The most common pattern is: raw materials → raw material processing → semi-finished products → finished product assembly.

Granted, this may seem complex at first glance, and having information on everything is virtually impossible. Brand and manufacturer communication therefore focuses on 3 types of information:

• Traceability of raw materials → where do raw materials come from?
• Traceability of the last stage of production → often garment making in textiles, assembly in furniture.
• Traceability of intermediate production stages ("mapping of tier 1, 2, 3 suppliers, etc.) → the most complex and the most interesting!

Made in France" or "Fabriqué en France

In our series of articles, we continue with "Made in France":

The "Made in France" label is a self-declaratory label, meaning that the company must be able to justify the display of this label, but can do so without control.

💡 Origin is compulsory for certain types of product (e.g. food), but not for all manufactured goods, such as furniture.

Display conditions

The manufacturer is authorized to display this statement if the product :

• derives a significant part of its value from one or more manufacturing stages located in France
• underwent its last substantial transformation in France

💡 The manufacturer can be taken to court if it fails to comply with these display criteria.

This implies two major points:

• there is no real quantitative notion behind this marking
• "Made in France" does not mean that all the manufacturing stages were carried out in France.

Environmental impact

The "Made in France" label indicates that at least the last manufacturing stage (often assembly) has been carried out in France. This implies that :

• distribution of the final product to French consumers will be on a shorter circuit, with less impact than if it were imported from abroad
• most of the time, this last manufacturing stage would have less impact than if it were carried out in another country (the French energy mix having little impact compared with other national energy mixes, notably in Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East).

💡 Nevertheless, we have no information on the real importance of this step. For example, we could have a Made in France shirt with only the buttons added in France. However, the environmental impact of the shirt lies largely in the production of textile materials and their transformation.

To find out more about Waro and how we help companies use their traceability efforts to measure precise environmental impacts, you can visit our website here or make an appointment.

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