Understanding traceability - Origine France Garantie

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!

The Origine France Garantie label

In our series of articles, we continue with the Originie France Garantie label:

Origine France Garantie is a label, which implies certification by a body external to the company applying for the label.

The Originie France Garantie label was created in response to the unregulated use of self-declared terms such as "Made in France" or "Origine France". Against a backdrop of growing consumer confusion about these terms, the label was created to promote local know-how.

The aim of certification is to "assure consumers of the traceability of a product by providing a clear and objective indication of its origin".

Source

💡 The Pro France association created and holds the label. They commissioned Bureau Veritas to create the associated certification standards (framework, limits, constraints, products concerned, etc.). Today, certification bodies include AFNOR, FCBA, CERIB and SGS.

Display conditions

The manufacturer is authorized to display this label if and only if the certification body issues the label, the two main conditions being :

• the product takes on its essential characteristics in France (= the product takes on its distinctive form in France),
• between 50% and 100% of the unit cost of this product is acquired in France.

Source

💡 For industrial products, this means that "the activity or activities that gave the product its main characteristics" took place in France.

❓ Unit cost price = sum of direct and indirect costs to produce products / quantities produced

50% of the unit cost price acquired in France means that 50% of the costs associated with manufacturing the product were incurred in France.

This implies two major points:

• The first criterion guarantees that the last major processing stage takes place in France. For example, in the textile sector, this implies that garment manufacturing takes place in France. However, this criterion is not really quantified.
• A second criterion, quantified and measurable, reflects the value of the product returned to the French territory.

Environmental impact

The "Origine France Garantie" label certifies that at least the last manufacturing stage (often assembly) has been carried out in France.

So, unlike a "Made in France" display, we can be sure that the last step is indeed an "important" stage in the manufacture of the product.

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

💡 The environmental analysis of the Origine France Garantie label leads to the same conclusions as "Made in France", but assures us of the veracity of the information displayed. Once again, this label is more concerned with social than environmental impact.

☝ As a little bonus, some great answers to frequently asked questions like "Why didn't you take 100% of the unit cost?" can be found here.

Information specific to the textile and furniture sectors

Most sectors have appendices specifying the conditions for obtaining the label: the sectoral standards (see bottom of page here to download the sectoral standards).

Furnishings

For the furniture sector, the criteria apply in the same way as above.

The processing stages(first criterion) considered substantial are specified in a sector-specific appendix:

Textile

In the case of textiles, there are many more modifications to the sectoral reference systems, as the sector is very different from traditional industrial products (with a lot of know-how residing abroad).

There are two industry standards for the textile sector:

• MADE-UP GOODS
• TEXTILE INDUSTRY

The "ready-made garments" standard covers 3 types of products with the compulsory stages carried out in France:

• Woven products or household linen: weaving and manufacturing
• Cut and Assemble product (e.g. shirts, jackets, pants): cut, assembly and finish.
• Shaped knitwear (e.g. t-shirts, sweaters): knitting, dyeing, finishing

Here are the value chains considered for the 3 types of product (red → step must be made in France):

💡 For jeans, the weaving stage must also be done in France

💡 There is a resemblance between the steps that must be taken in France and the traceability required by the AGEC law in the textile sector from 2023, although they are not identical.

The "textile sector" standard concerns semi-finished products (fabric, woven fabric, etc.) We won't go into detail here, as it is particularly complex and depends on the yarns, know-how and production capacity of these stages in France:

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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