With the “School of Artisans”, Millau leather goods are getting up to date with new training

Julien Hanchir, ici entouré d’Emmanuelle Gazel (Région) et Séverine Peyretout (Com’com). AD

To compensate for the lack of labor, the leather goods sector has decided to develop its own training. First blow of the gavel, September 9, 2024.

Labor requirements are significant. For the scope of the Aveyron Leather Center alone, it is estimated that it will be necessary to hire 150 people in the next four years, including 120 for the Grands Causses area alone, the historic stronghold of Aveyron leather goods.

Faced with similar challenges, Julien Hanchir, manufacturer serving the brands at the head of the Atelier Julien H in Saint-Georges de Luzençon (Bleu de Chauffe, the T-shirt own, Atelier Tuffery), has decided to take the bull by the horns, by launching, with the support of the Region and the Com’com, training from the start of the 2024 school year.

A "School of craftsmen", this is its name, which should allow training between 24 and 36 people per year to respond very concretely to the needs of the numerous companies in the department which struggle, to put it mildly, to find shoes – in leather that’is understood – at their feet.

"Not a creative leisure course"

"In 12 weeks, the idea is to embrace all the skills necessary for leather working so that the people who participate are directly compatible with employment and operational upon release&quot ;, explains the business leader who invested 160,000 euros to give substance to his idea. And so that the school can install its workshops on the ground floor of the LME in Millau during the month of June for a start on September 9, 2024.

Targeted profiles ? "motivated people above all who want to work at the exit. This is not creative leisure training. Adult people who do not necessarily have the budget to finance their training, people undergoing professional retraining or job seekers. The Region is plentiful to cover the cost of teaching to the tune of 64,000 euros; as part of the "Innov’emploi Experimentation" scheme.

"The desire of the Region is indeed to deploy the training offer in line with the characteristics and needs of the catchment area ;employment, agrees Emmanuelle Gazel. Leather is an emblematic sector in Millau. With its specificity, its history. But the future today lies in leather goods which are strongly deployed in the territory. This is where the most leather goods are created today. jobs."

At the end of the 12 weeks, a diploma of "stitcher and preparer in leather goods", which is certainly not yet recognized by the profession, but which could become so fairly quickly, valid, pragmatic, the business leader who intends to plead his case to the National Directory of professional certifications (RNCP), justice of the peace for a future certification.

"Given the application and the investment that we put into it, the idea is indeed to perpetuate this training so that it becomes a reference in the region and even beyond, concludes Julien Hanchir, a manufacturer serving brands who intends to print his own.

Sixteen companies within the Aveyron Leather Cluster

Le Pôle Cuir aveyronnais brings together 16 companies: tanneries/leisure, leather goods, gloves, saddlers (horse riding and car), shoemaker, bootmaker, shoemaker& hellip;
Among them, 7 have the prestigious State label “Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant”, which distinguishes French companies with know-how of excellence. The Pôle Cuir Aveyron wasé created in April 2015 in order to maintain and develop this wealth of the territory by supporting leather companies in their activity.