Malika is the coordinator of the social impact association [ GAMMES ]
Year founded: 1946
Location of design and office: France 🇫🇷
Location of raw material sourcing: Southern France 🇫🇷, private donations, local authorities, and associations
Location of manufacturing and production: Montpellier, France 🇫🇷
Meet the coordinator
Malika is the coordinator of the Interlude workshop. She liaises with partners, tarpaulin suppliers, customers, and local authorities. Gammes is a large association structured around four departments, including the one for IAE (Integration through Economic Activity), to which she belongs.
At each site, woodworking and clothing sorting activities are offered. She is part of the Interlude site, a workshop dedicated to ironing and eco-leather goods. This workshop, attached to the Gammes association located in Montpellier, is a place for textile upcycling, resource recovery, and support for professional integration for men and women.
Today, their activity is divided between 60% ironing and 40% sewing, alterations, garment making, and eco-leather goods. They work mainly with local authorities committed to recycling, who are their main customers as well as essential supporters.
She now wishes to further develop the manufacturing of eco-leather products accessible to everyone. This approach is part of a commitment to reduce waste while supporting professional integration. Their goal is also to support and professionalize people in vulnerable situations.
Gammes in three words: gender equality, multiculturalism, the value of work.
About the brand
Eco-friendly and stylish, all their items are made from event tarpaulins and collected fabrics sourced by them. The IAE workshop supports employees in their search for employment or training.
The Gammes association is an important organization located in Montpellier. It is part of the IAE (Integration through Economic Activity) sector. Within this framework, they run several workshops: a woodworking workshop, a construction workshop (finishing work), resource recovery centers, as well as clothing sorting and furniture salvage activities.
In 2026, they will celebrate Gammes' 80th anniversary. The association developed particularly from the 1990s, after being initially created by the Protestant Social Center of Montpellier, which originated the project.
They are spread across five sites in Montpellier, including La Gaminerie, which specializes in childcare, clothing, and items for children.
The Interlude workshop operates with a team of six permanent staff: a CIP, three technical supervisors, a coordinator, and a secretary. Their main activities are ironing and sewing. Sewing includes both alterations and eco-leather goods. Ironing allows them to welcome a wide range of people, especially those far from employment, as no prerequisites are required.
They recruit employees on CDDI (fixed-term integration contracts). Their main mission is to support these people in returning to employment. This workshop is funded by the departmental council as well as the ESF.
Their socio-professional support worker has performance targets, with approximately 60% of participants moving into employment. They also work to remove the barriers faced by employees, such as childcare, mobility, and language skills.
The eco-responsible impact
All their items are made from event tarpaulins and collected fabrics sourced by them. They are part of a waste reduction approach by repurposing these materials.
More specifically, in their eco-leather goods activity, their goal is to recover event tarpaulins, PVC tarpaulins, as well as various salvaged fabrics. All these materials, as long as they can be sewn, are transformed into unique pieces of eco-leather goods. Their production ranges from small coin purses to pencil cases, as well as fanny packs, laptop bags, travel bags, shopping carts, as well as specific items made to order by customers.
They regularly work with local authorities and private companies to reduce waste, while supporting sustainable development and local work. This approach also helps promote professional integration.
Eco-leather goods correspond to eco-responsible leather goods, made from repurposed materials.
A collaboration with Meanwhile Boutique
In a spirit of local cooperation and the repurposing of existing materials, Meanwhile Boutique also collaborated with Malika and Chinara, head of the sewing workshop, by providing them with fabrics from the boutique's dormant stock. These repurposed materials were then incorporated into their creations, further strengthening their upcycling and waste reduction approach with exclusive products made with and for Meanwhile Boutique.
The brand's values
🔁 Upcycling ↓
This consists of transforming tarpaulins and fabric scraps into items of higher value such as bags, luggage, and laptop bags
👤 Know-how ↓
They manually combine the different materials
🇫🇷 Made in France ↓
Made in Montpellier with fabric scraps or event tarpaulins collected on site
💎 Limited edition ↓
Depending on the fabric or tarpaulin, they produce in limited quantities, the visuals are very different and mostly unique pieces
👐🏽 Social and solidarity impact ↓
This activity allows people to acquire skills for employment; skills that are transferable to other professions
🏠 Made locally ↓
Made in Montpellier with fabric scraps or event tarpaulins collected on site
[ Eco-friendly and stylish, support integration and sustainable development ]
