Textile Engineer at Ligne Roset
Central to Ligne Roset’s expertise, the selection of fabrics and leathers requires specialist expertise combining technical requirements with artistic sensibility. This kind of expertise possessed by Noémie De Backer, head of purchasing and procurement in this sector. Guarantor of the quality of the fabrics selected, she presides over an exceptional catalogue of more than 1,000 ranges.
Noémie De Backer joined Ligne Roset just over five years ago, having gained experience working for a famous Paris textile manufacturer. Her position, which is highly cross-functional, rests on two main pillars: purchasing in the strictest sense and procurement. The first part of her work therefore consists of negotiating prices with the manufacturers, checking product quality and selecting new items, along with Michel Roset, the artistic director, for whom she acts as technical advisor at the point that choices are made. “For this I also collaborate closely with Christophe Suchet, who leads the R&D team, explains Noémie.”
The second part of her work requires her to analyse sales statistics with a view to deciding whether or not to retain certain ranges in the collection. This has even led her to go beyond simply “picking” from supplier catalogues, towards developing exclusive fabrics for Ligne Roset. European manufacturers and stringent checks “All our materials are European, she explains. My most distant supplier, for leather, is in Sweden. But the majority are Danish or Italian, and a few French.” Amongst Ligne Roset’s most longstanding partners are Kvadrat and Alcantara, the latter being a synthetic fibre which remains one of its most popular materials. “It’s easy to maintain and has a very pleasant feel. For the customer, it’s something easy for everyday life”, explains Noémie before moving onto the company’s elevated quality requirements for the fabrics used.
“A few years ago we revised our textile specifications, working closely with the industrialisation and quality teams, with a view to redefining our purchasing charter”, she continues. Amongst the control criteria, seam slippage is routinely checked, as is resistance to abrasion, measured by a Martindale test. Whether for indoor or outdoor use, all fabrics are selected according to their light-resistant qualities. A thousand ranges In total, Ligne Roset has more than 1,000 ranges, without counting fabrics supplied by customers! An exceptional breadth of range across which one finds all possible combinations of materials: cotton, synthetic fibres and wool – one of Noémie’s favourite materials thanks to its robustness and its numerous properties (water-repellence, thermal regulation, or fire retardancy standards specific to foreign markets). “We generally use wool with polyamide, to increase resistance and softness, and/or polyester to improve the price whilst retaining an attractive appearance”.
Regarding leathers, Ligne Roset relies strongly on Elmo, a Swedish manufacturer renowned for the quality of its semi-aniline leathers – that is, leather to which a thin protective layer has been added – of which there are four ranges (with differences in terms of thickness and grain) totalling around thirty colours. A material of great durability: “Leather patinates, whilst fabric has a tendency to deteriorate. It also has the advantage of being a by-product of the food chain, which means it fits neatly within the circular economy.” All the more so when one considers that Ligne Roset’s leather offcuts are given to a designer from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, who uses them in her leatherwork.
