Just 30 minutes from Paris, Creil is the second poorest urban area in France. This is where José Manço, who grew up in the Paris suburbs and comes from a single-parent family, decided to set up his shop Les fringues store associatif, “the most beautiful in the whole city,” according to its beneficiaries.
A shop that has everything of a great one, but of a different kind than those found in city centers or shopping malls. A unique place, a professional integration workshop, a space for social inclusion, ecological transition, diversity, and encounters.
José Manço collects textile waste, repairs it, and makes it available free of charge to a very vulnerable audience. “I do not enrich myself, I enrich society,” he emphasizes. In his organization, he not only helps single-parent families but also offers training solutions to those who cannot afford school or who do not fit into the boxes: elderly people, people with disabilities, transgender individuals, the homeless, those under judicial supervision, and young people dropping out of school... “I wanted, in this project, for people to come together without having to be alike,” José Manço points out.
Les fringues store associatif employs 26 people, 21 of whom are in integration, with an employment exit rate of 100%. It has received 15 awards for social inclusion, professional integration, and ecological transition.
