Le Relais

Le Relais collects, sorts, resells or recycles second-hand textiles, employing socially excluded people. The company has created 1,500 jobs in France and Africa. Facing the difficulties met by employees in finding a new job, Le Relais has been developing activities that provide training and sustainable employment since 1993. Pierre Duponchel is focused on making Le Relais become a company with a socio-economic objective.

Starting as a small door-to-door collection activity in the north of France, Le Relais has become a major industry, treating more than 60,000 tons of textiles each year. The textiles collected are used for different purposes: top quality material is resold in Ding-Bring boutiques, an integrated network of second-hand shops; approximately 40% are exported to Africa where they are sorted again and resold in local markets; and textiles that cannot be resold are recycled into industrial rags. Le Relais is also committed to recycling textile and paper waste, reusing more than 85% of the 60,000 tons of textiles collected every year.

To remain viable and create value from the collected textiles, Le Relais has developed innovative products from this raw material. For example, the company has developed Metisse, a heat and sound isolating material based on recycled textile fibres from jeans and cotton. This licensed eco-material has had great success in environmentally-friendly construction projects. After a television programme dedicated time to Le Relais initiatives, the company received multiple requests to duplicate the model throughout France. It has more recently developed activities in Africa.