Weaving threads and creating links

Éric Boël took over the reins of Les Tissages de Charlieu (LTC) in 1997. He wanted to ensure a future for an age-old weaving activity which had been devastated by competition from China. LTC produces high quality jacquard fabric and is very creative: every month it produces eight hundred designs. It has also become a place which welcomes discussion and is open to initiatives. Three start-ups were created in-house based on employees’ ideas. LTC encourages professional insertion, training and profit-share (25 % of the profits are distributed to the employees). Added to this is an ambitious CSR policy. In twenty years, LTC has shown that efficiency and human relations can go hand in hand. The company’s results are surprising for this sector: it has a growth of 15 %, a turnover of 12 million Euros and a profit of 1 million Euros. At the end of 2016, LTC received the Philibert Vrau Prize, awarded by the ‘Christian Entrepreneurs and Managers’ association (Entrepreneurs et Dirigeants Chrétiens).