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After successfully pulling off the challenge of
relocating jean production to Drôme, making
sure that no pair ever travels further than 1083
km (the distance between the two French cities
furthest apart), the 1083 brand has just overcome
another issue: making its jeans buttons in France.
This innovation is 100% made in Drôme, the result
of a collaboration with Vallgrip, a company 30 km
from Romans specialised in cold-punching studs
for studded tyres. As well as being made in France,
this new aluminium button is more robust, more
resistant to corrosion and no material is lost during
its manufacture. In Drôme, resources are aplenty.
Like trainers with a good conscience, jeans are trying
to break away from their Yankee image, today a
cumbersome symbol of globalisation that initially
contributed to their success. Some producers dream
of a return to making denim in Nîmes. Others, like this
company, see Drôme as a local Far West, capable of
giving jeans new origins and rising to the challenge
of local manufacture...right down to the buttons.
Consumers don’t just want to know the origins of what
they eat. Now they want to know about what they’re
wearing too. With proof that local production
is possible and not necessarily more expensive, we aim
to progressively change our purchasing behaviors.