Planning and implementing reindustrialization is a major challenge for France. This point of view uses the textile industry as a pivot for reflection.

Thirty years ago, Philippe Duclos, Senior Partner and Founder of Antheus Advisors, had the privilege of taking part in the GATT negotiations in Geneva—a major turning point, marking the transition from the Multifibre Arrangement to the WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing. At the time, France aimed to integrate its textile industry into a more open global trade framework, confident that quality and innovation would enable Europe to withstand the wave of low-cost imports coming from Asia.

Twenty years after the quota system was abolished in 2005, the European textile industry’s upscaling—while very real—may be reaching its limits. The competitive landscape has again grown vastly more complex. Today, Europe’s textile sector faces not only price competition but also the rise of Asian competitors who are themselves innovating, massively automating, developing their own designs, and managing their brands. Some now set the pace and the style of the global market.

With hindsight, Europe’s response can no longer be limited to moving upmarket. We must face competitors now capable of combining volume, creativity, and industrial agility on a global scale.

The numbers speak for themselves: in France, the textile sector remains a true economic pillar. It generates about €14 billion in turnover, employs more than 60,000 people across 2,200 companies, and spans the entire value chain—from fiber production, spinning, weaving, and finishing, to garment manufacturing and distribution. The industry embodies recognized expertise, especially in technical, innovative, and luxury textiles—segments in which France is a major exporter. Yet 97% of textiles consumed in France are imported, and the trade deficit is heavy: nearly €17 billion in imports versus only €9 billion in exports.

However, “Made in France” is experiencing positive momentum. New companies emerge each year, driven by high-value technological solutions—technical, eco-friendly, or bio-based textiles. This vitality relies on technology and exports, which now account for almost 70% of the sector’s revenue. The industry capitalizes on its manufacturing excellence, its luxury tradition, and its commitment to sustainability: it adapts, innovates, and shines.

The French textile industry also reveals the broader industrial challenges facing France and Europe across multiple sectors—automotive, chemical, electronics, pharmaceuticals. It is both a mirror and, hopefully, a springboard. The real question is: how can we seize the technological revolution and reindustrialize to create the jobs of tomorrow?

A sector driven by innovation

A sector hindered rather than supported by regulation

Europe has created an ambitious regulatory framework: separate waste collection by 2025, a digital textile passport by 2030, Extended Producer Responsibility, and eco-design standards. The goals are clear — to reduce waste, ensure traceability, and enhance sustainability. But on the ground, these requirements are heavy to bear in the face of uneven global competition.

Counterfeiting remains a scourge: it causes losses of around €26 billion per year for European companies, representing roughly 10% of the market. The EU has indeed put legal tools in place (Directive 2004/48/EC on the enforcement of IP rights, Regulation [EU] No. 608/2013 on customs enforcement, and the EUIPO Observatory on IP Infringement), and customs authorities seize millions of counterfeit items every year — mainly clothing, footwear, and accessories.

Yet enforcement remains patchy, especially outside Europe. Offshored production and online commerce facilitate the massive spread of counterfeit products, particularly from Asia. Despite the clauses inserted in recent trade agreements, application remains inconsistent, especially in third countries. The result: competitive distortions that threaten thousands of European jobs.

Add to this context: land constraints, environmental and waste management obligations, complex taxation, legal disputes, and a dense labor code. Building a new factory in France often feels like an obstacle course. Costs rise, regulatory constraints pile up.

In this environment, entrepreneurship in France demands almost superhuman perseverance. Yet it is precisely in the face of this challenge that we must invest and simplify, rather than continue adding new hurdles.

WHAT IF EUROPE BECAME THE CHINA OF CHINA?

STRATEGIC REINDUSTRIALIZATION AND MOVING UP THE VALUE CHAIN: LESSONS FROM OTHER INDUSTRIES

Innovating in both product and use: going beyond “textile material”

Thesis: Textile must no longer be viewed as a low-differentiation commodity, but as a system that combines fibers + smart materials + associated services.

• Electronics and automotive: the case of batteries and energy storage
  Industry leaders such as Tesla, CATL (Chinese battery producer), and LG Energy Solution don’t merely sell battery cells — they develop intelligent systems for management, cooling, software, and maintenance services. Europe is now attempting to build its own gigafactories (for example Northvolt in Sweden or ACC, a joint venture between Stellantis, TotalEnergies, and Mercedes-Benz) to recreate a complete battery industry. This shows that we don’t simply “relocalize a product”; we rebuild an entire technological platform.
• High-end cosmetics and dermocosmetics
  If textiles equipped with sensors — offered via rental or subscription models — or including services such as performance diagnostics, maintenance, or reconditioning become the norm, the competitive dynamic will shift. The core challenge will no longer be unit cost, but the ability to innovate and generate usage-based value.

Lesson for the textile industry:

If textiles equipped with sensors — offered via rental or subscription models — or including services such as performance diagnostics, maintenance, or reconditioning become the norm, the competitive dynamic will shift. The core challenge will no longer be unit cost, but the ability to innovate and generate usage-based value.

Leveraging ecological and circular transitions as competitive advantages

Thesis: Environmental “constraints” can become opportunities — to rethink offerings, sourcing, traceability, and circularity, creating differentiation against low-cost producers with fewer ethical standards.

• Construction: sustainable materials
  Saint-Gobain (a French multinational specializing in construction materials) invests heavily in recycled insulation, bio-based materials, and low-carbon products. The “green label” has become a decisive factor for both public and private project developers.
• Chemicals: the clean energy industry (hydrogen and electrolysis)
  The EU’s Clean Industrial Deal aims explicitly to link reindustrialization and carbon neutrality, supporting manufacturers that rebuild local capacities (for example electrolyzers, hydrogen, or green materials). The wager: valorize low- or zero-carbon production over less-regulated imports.
• Recycling: the circular economy
  In several industries (plastics, metals), the scarcity of raw materials pushes companies to reshore recycling and invest in high-performance separation and purification technologies (for example, high-yield recovery and reprocessing of used equipment).

Lesson for the textile industry:

Rather than focusing only on fiber recycling — still limited technically and economically — Europe’s textile industry could build circular competitiveness through other levers: establishing full end-to-end circularity via reuse and second life, reinforcing certified material traceability, investing in energy-intensive processes now powered by green energy, and introducing demanding environmental labeling as a market barrier. The goal: to oppose “cheaper but opaque” imports with a model based on quality, transparency, and sustainability.

Financing industrial scale-up: bridging the capital gap and structuring public–private support

Thesis: Many reindustrialization projects fail due to insufficient capitalization, high financing costs, or a lack of long-term vision. The solution is to build a true industrial financing chain.

• The European Union and its industrial policies
  As of 2025, the EU is multiplying instruments to encourage reindustrialization — such as the Clean Industrial Deal, new financing mechanisms, and relaxed state-aid rules — to accelerate strategic industrial projects. Member states are encouraged to build long-term public–private partnerships.
• Bpifrance and business support
  Bpifrance (France’s public investment bank) states that “winning the reindustrialization battle” rests on three pillars: innovation, investment, and internationalization. In other words, the goal is not merely to finance factories, but to fund industrializable innovations that can succeed internationally.
• Large-scale projects (IPCEI and other European strategic programs)
  Certain transnational projects — such as IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest) — enable the pooling of costs, the securing of value chains, and the alignment of member states around common funding initiatives.

Lesson for the textile industry:

Following these models could mean:

• Identifying structural projects (for example, a “European technical textiles factory”) that could qualify for European mechanisms.
• Promoting patient capital, industrial scale-up funds, and dedicated equipment financing (advanced machinery, specialized tooling).
• Aligning public strategies (grants, subsidies, export credit, risk sharing) with a robust industrial vision.

Synthesis: a plausible roadmap for textile reindustrialization

Based on these levers, a strategic roadmap for the European and French textile sectors might look like this:

1. Map out high-value segments (technical textiles, smart fabrics, high-performance fiber recycling).
2. Build shared industrial platforms to mutualize R&D, equipment, and innovation.
3. Integrate vertically the critical links (fiber, treatment, sensors, software).
4. Turn ecological transition into a competitive advantage, not a restrictive cost.
5. Create a robust, aligned financing chain (public–private, industrial capital).
6. Export ambition: reindustrialization is meaningful only if the product is competitive beyond the European market.

Such a trajectory would make reindustrialization not merely a “catch-up effort”, but a true industrial transformation of the textile sector — aligned with the technological and geopolitical challenges of the 21st century.

Conclusion

The strategic reindustrialization described for Europe’s textile industry cannot be a mere political slogan or reactive impulse. It must rest on:

• Technological choices.
• Collective structuring.
• Long-term financing.
• And a renewed vision of product use.

The industries studied — aerospace, batteries, construction, automotive — demonstrate that surviving the “Sinification” of markets requires more than defense. It requires going on the offense, with different weapons: innovation, platforms, technology control, and ecological differentiation.

If the textile industry can draw inspiration from these trajectories — not by imitation, but by adaptation — it can transform itself into Europe’s “textile vanguard industry”, rather than becoming the “low-cost Europe” of Asia.