‘Ligne Roset is the mix of the loyalty and know-how of the people who have worked with us for, on average, 30 or 40 years and our high level of technology and investment,’ explains Ligne Roset’s co-chief executive officer Olivier Roset in this exclusive interview. ‘We invest a lot in being innovative and creative.’ It’s this thirst for regeneration that has prompted the company to embark on a new venture: a local training school for sewing and upholstery.
Scheduled to open in June 2024, the school will be situated just a short five-minute drive from the brand’s factory (where all of its furniture, including the infamous ‘Togo’ sofa, is manufactured) at the foot of the Bugey mountains in the French countryside. It’ll form part of a new 6,000-square-metre multi-use site for the company, which will also house a large showroom – part of Ligne Roset’s commitment to breathing new blood into its native neighbourhood. Students will undertake lessons in tailoring and upholstery and upon completing the course, they will earn a degree from Ligne Roset and will be offered a job within the company.
While a less expansive version of Ligne Roset’s training programme has already existed for two years, the idea for a physical school and a more comprehensive learning programme came about when the brand faced a perfect storm of an ageing workforce, skills shortage and the impact of COVID-19. ‘The changes in the employment market are really important. So we have decided to train more and more people, because for sewing and for upholstery, with the very high-end production and the large range of products that we have, we need at least 12 to 18 months for someone to be trained when they come to Roset,’ says Roset, who is the fifth generation of the Roset family to run the business.
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The changing workforce has also coincided with the brand’s popularity – in 2020, in part of course to the multiple lockdowns around the world which meant people were spending more time than ever inside their homes, Ligne Roset enjoyed its best sales year in history.
Current students learn their trade from skilled workers at the factory, which has a reputation for taking a detailed and well-rounded approach to teaching, with an emphasis on student empowerment. According to Roset, students come from a variety of backgrounds including the fashion industry, but that’s not a pre-requisite for joining the school. ‘We just see people with skills. We don’t ask them to have previous experience,’ he explains. ‘We want people who are able to remember the ability to do different sewing tasks because we have so many products.’
Roset hopes that the new training offering will enable the company, which is over 160 years old, to maintain its family feel and reputation for creating a positive working environment where employees remain for decades. ‘We have to have this feeling that we are living and working well together and that’s the goal.’ ligne-roset.com
