FRINGUETTE

Name

FRINGUETTE

Legal name

Association Fringuette

Website

https://fringuette.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Fringuette is a French non-profit social insertion association founded in 1993 in Gironde, operating six boutique-écoles, a sorting center, a sewing workshop, and an e-commerce platform to collect, sort, and resell second-hand textiles while providing CDDI employment contracts to disadvantaged individuals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Biganos

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Retail sales of secondhand clothing: Sale of collected, sorted, and processed secondhand clothing and accessories through 6 boutique-école stores. Also includes new items from end-of-series partner manufacturers sold at attractive prices. This represents the primary revenue-generating activity.
2. Sewing and alteration services: Couture workshop providing alteration services, custom creations, and subcontracting work. Offers sewing lessons (15€/hour), simple hemming from 7€, embroidery, and custom textile creations for individuals and businesses.
3. Costume rental: Rental of historical costumes (800+ pieces spanning antiquity to 19th century) for events, festivals, and ceremonies. Notably, 100+ costumes rented during the 2025 Soulac 1900 edition.
4. E-commerce sales: Online sales through fringuette.store platform launched February 2024, enabling nationwide reach. Over 500 orders processed within the first year. The platform extends the association's geographic footprint beyond Gironde.
5. Enterprise textile services: Business services including uniform alterations, custom accessory creation, upholstery, and event costumes for corporate and institutional clients. Partnerships with public and private sector organizations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Fringuette is a French social insertion association that collects, sorts, and resells secondhand clothing through six boutique-école retail stores and the fringuette.store e-commerce platform. It also runs a sewing/couture workshop offering alterations, custom creations, and lessons, and rents a library of 800+ historical costumes for events and festivals. These economic activities fund the association's professional insertion program for people facing employment barriers.

Product overview

FRINGUETTE is a social insertion association operating a textile collection, sorting, and resale enterprise. The portfolio consists of six boutique-école retail stores, the Fringuette.store e-commerce platform (launched February 2024), an internal sorting center processing 2.5-3 tonnes of textile daily, a 100 m2 sewing/couture workshop for alterations and custom creations, and a costume rental service with 800+ period costumes. The boutiques-école function as dual-purpose spaces: retail outlets for second-hand clothing, surplus items, and upcycled creations, and professional training environments for insertion program participants learning retail skills. The phygital corner at Pessac Bersol integrates physical and digital shopping experiences.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Fringuette.store (E-commerce Platform) Online retail platform selling secondhand clothing, upcycled creations, and new surplus items from partner manufacturers, with nationwide delivery. For individual consumers and gift card users across France.
• Boutiques-École (Retail Store Network) Network of six physical retail stores across Gironde (Andernos-les-Bains, Belin-Béliet, Biganos, Pessac Arago, Pessac Bois Bersol, La Teste-de-Buch) selling secondhand clothing, accessories, and surplus items while serving as dual-purpose retail and professional training spaces for insertion participants.
• Textile Collection Services Collection of secondhand clothing, shoes, and household textiles via 70+ containers across Gironde, with weekly pickup and routing to the sorting center. For individual donors and partner collection points.
• Couture Workshop (Sewing and Alteration Services) 100 m² sewing atelier offering alterations (simple hemming from 7€), zipper and button repairs, custom textile creations, accessory manufacturing, embroidery, subcontracting work, and sewing lessons (15€/hour) on Wednesdays and Saturdays by appointment. For individual consumers and enterprise clients.
• Historical Costume Rental Rental of 800+ historical costumes spanning antiquity (Greco-Roman), Medieval, Empire, and 19th century styles for adults and children. For festival attendees, event organizers, and private celebrations.
• Enterprise Textile Services Business-to-business textile services including uniform alterations, custom accessory creation, upholstery, and event costumes for companies, public services, and cultural organizations in Gironde and nationally.

Quantifiable outcome

• 72% employment return rate for insertion program participants in 2024
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor, core and flagship.

• MAT Green ConceptminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 21 October 2021Bordeaux-based eco-responsible concept store serves as a textile collection point for Fringuette. Donations collected are regularly forwarded for processing, extending Fringuette's presence into Bordeaux.
• Clara CostaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 May 2017Designer who created the 'So Beach' beach towel bag. Fringuette handles manufacturing of these products, which won the Lépine competition and employment ministry recognition.
• Gebetex/GébétexcoreOthersTextile recycling partner receiving items that are too worn or cannot be reclassified. Gebetex handles the integral recycling of these textiles, completing the circular economy loop. This partnership is essential to Fringuette's environmental mission.
• Les Elles du BassinflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerSix-year partnership for October Rose breast cancer awareness. Fringuette creates accessories sold in stores and online, with 50% of benefits donated to Les Elles du Bassin. This partnership exemplifies female solidarity and Fringuette's commitment to women's health causes beyond professional insertion.
• AIGLEcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with AIGLE for upcycling textile waste into new products. The sewing workshop is creating 1,500 pouches from textile material donated by AIGLE, demonstrating corporate textile recycling collaboration.
• Lilie Rose FleuristeminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorFlorist in La Teste displaying and selling Fringuette products (small tops, girl dresses, end-of-school gifts, embroidered bags) in her boutique, creating an additional sales channel.
• Public and private sector enterprise partnerscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerVarious enterprises commission textile services including uniform alterations, custom accessories, and event costumes. Partnerships span both public services and private businesses, demonstrating B2B service capabilities.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Réseau des Ressourceries: Federation of French reuse/recycling centers (ressourceries) collecting, refurbishing, and reselling secondhand goods including textiles with embedded social-employment outcomes similar to Fringuette's mission.
• Le Relais (France): French social-insertion network collecting, sorting, and recycling textiles via employment-intensive operations, closely matching Fringuette's circular-economy plus insertion model.
• Emmaüs France: Federation of French social-utility associations that collect, sort, and resell secondhand goods including clothing through a network of community stores, with parallel social insertion missions for excluded populations.
• Tissons la Solidarité: French network of social-insertion workshops focused on textile sorting, recycling, and resale, comparable in operational model to Fringuette's sorting center and boutique-école structure.

Broad incumbents

• La Croix-Rouge Française: Major French humanitarian organization operating secondhand clothing boutiques and textile collection points nationwide as part of a broader social welfare portfolio that overlaps with Fringuette's retail and collection activities.
• Les Restos du Cœur: Large French food-aid charity that also collects and distributes clothing via local antennae, partially overlapping Fringuette's textile-collection and affordable-distribution mission.
• Secours Populaire Français: National French association running solidarity boutiques selling donated clothing at low prices to fund anti-poverty programs, comparable to Fringuette's secondhand retail and social mission combination.

Emerging players

• PATagonia Worn Wear: Brand-operated resale and repair platform that, like Fringuette, combines secondhand apparel sales with textile repair/upcycling services, partially overlapping the couture-workshop value proposition.
• Vinted: Pan-European peer-to-peer secondhand fashion marketplace with significant traction in France; competes for the same sustainability-minded secondhand apparel customer that fringuette.store targets.

Regional players

• Humando (Germany): German social-insertion enterprise collecting, sorting, and reselling textiles through charity shops, comparable to Fringuette's insertion-plus-retail model but operating in Germany rather than France.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/acifringuette
• Instagraminstagram.com/fringuette_aci/?hl=fr
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fringuette

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about FRINGUETTE