ETSA News

Welcoming alsico Group as the newest ETSA member

Introduction: We are delighted to welcome alsico Group to the ETSA Community. Alsico, a leader in the global workwear industry, brings a rich legacy of innovation, sustainability, and excellence that aligns seamlessly with the priorities and values of ETSA members. With over 90 years of experience and a commitment to protecting workers worldwide, alsico 's addition strengthens our collective mission to promote best practices and sustainability in textile services. We look forward to a fruitful collaboration and the invaluable insights alsico will contribute to our community! Below see an interview we conducted with Gauthier Siau the CEO at the alsico group.

Question: Could you give us an overview of alsico® and its evolution since its founding in 1934? What are the core values and mission that drive the company today?

Founded in 1934, alsico Group is a prominent player in the global workwear industry, based in Europe. As one of the largest professional clothing and personal protective equipment (PPE) providers in Europe, the company has a rich 90-year history of family-led business, strategic acquisitions, and a commitment to sustainability. Alsico Group prides itself on maintaining a portfolio of independent companies, each with its own unique history and identity, while upholding collective responsibility to customers, community, environment, and shareholders.

More recently alsico has gone through a two-year brand consolidation project, bringing all alsico companies and brands around the world under one co-ordinated brand 'alsico'.

This project has seen the business revisit its entire global communications activities, revisit the vision and mission and incorporated a deep and detailed look at the whole brand promise. 

Question: Alsico prides itself on being an innovator in workwear. Can you share some recent technological advancements or innovative solutions that alsico has introduced to the market?

Alsico is driven by its commitment to innovation which is born out of our brand promise 'Our performance protects yours' this means that everything we do is guided by this promise, to continually innovate, ensuring the workers of the world are as protected as possible and so they can perform with confidence at their very best.

To this end, we have created the alsico academy, a team of experts with the mission to create the highest performing fabrics and technologies as sustainably as possible. Combining experts in raw materials, research and development, testing, sustainability, and communications.

Our innovation sits into three areas, technology, fabrics, and garments. Our technologies power the fabrics, and the fabrics are designed into pioneering garments.

Alsico creates technologies that protect the wearer and also protect the environment from the wearer. Our specialisms across heavy industry to cleanroom and contamination control give us unique insights into what is required in the most demanding areas.

We currently have 5 technologies that power our fabrics:

• ALSIFLEX® - Our pioneering stretch fabric is a unique combination of polymer science, fibre and yarn construction and fabric finishing.  It's extremely comfortable, it has incredible permanent stretch and an outstanding shape recovery, giving you the freedom to move.

By using the ALSIFLEX® technology, we eliminate the need for elastane or Elastolefin-fibers making it easier to recycle them after use.

• ALSISKIN: A pioneering contamination control technology that ensures fabrics are comfortable and breathable. The resulting fabric is perfect for clean room environments due to the minimal particle dispersion and zero linting.

• ALSICLEAN: Our ALSICLEAN technology was developed for the strictest cleanroom environments, where particle control and microbial control is the most critical. It boasts a very high filtration efficiency acting as a barrier between the person and the environment. The resulting fabric is the perfect balance between comfort and contamination control. Plus, the fabric is validated for ISO 5 cleanrooms for +80 cycles of use.

• AlSISTAT: Our innovative particulate contamination technology with inbuilt electrostatic discharge barrier control. The technology is a blend of very high filtration efficiency for small to big particles whilst offering excellent comfort and breathability to the wearer with the highest possible electrostatic dissipative performance.

• ALSIBLOCK: Utilising our expertise and knowledge of particle control and protection, we have adapted these technologies specifically for wearers in operating theatres. In addition to particulate and microbial control, and the validation of sterilization as with the ALSICLEAN technology, ALSIBLOCK offers the best water repellence on the market. It is also validation for 80 cycles of use (incl sterilization) according to EN 13795.

Our technologies all go to power our 'alsico performance fabrics' a range of high performance, sustainable fabrics that revolutionise the future of workwear.

Question: Sustainability is a key focus for alsico, and of course for ETSA as a Climate Pact Ambassador. Could you discuss some of the specific sustainable practices and initiatives alsico has implemented to reduce its environmental footprint and promote circular economy models?

Alsico has implemented several sustainable practices and initiatives to reduce its environmental footprint and promote circular economy models:

• Active Impact Management: alsico systematically includes ecological, social, and economic considerations in its daily policy. We recognize the impact we have on people and the environment, and map that impact by conducting continuous due diligence.
   
• ARX Initiative: This (Alsico Reduce eXtend) initiative is our way of taking responsibility for the impact we have on the environment, by actively reducing negative impacts while extending the lifetime of our products.
   
• Sustainable Design and Production: Our clothing is designed according to the principle of ecodesign. We strive to reuse by building in repairability through smart confection and aim to use fabrics that can be recycled into fibers again. We use Oekotex-100 certified fabrics, which do not contain any harmful chemicals.
   
• Restoring Eco-systems: Every year, we measure the CO₂ footprint of the entire production chain. We aim to reduce emissions by using fabrics that have overall lower emissions, switching to low-emission transport, and switching to 100% renewable energy in production. We also compensate the emissions caused by the production of our own collection and transport through a tree planting program.
   
• Net Zero+ Goal: We aim to become Net Zero+ by 2040.

These initiatives demonstrate our commitment to sustainability and our efforts to lead the way to a better future.

Question: How is digital transformation impacting alsico's operations and customer interactions? Can you share any examples of digital tools or platforms that have enhanced your business processes?

Alsico has undergone a robust digital transformation, integrating advanced technologies across pattern design, automatic cutting, CRM, ERP, and PLM systems. Additionally, we've implemented 3D design for fitting. These innovations not only facilitate collaboration across our business units but also ensure seamless interaction with our customers.

In 2023 and 2024, we undertook a global rebranding, within this we have implemented a coordinated marketing strategy that encompasses all marketing channels including digital. Certain platforms such as Linkedin allow us to present our stories to audiences who would traditionally be difficult to reach. We are now utilizing the business tools of Linkedin to get deeper insights into our customers, their needs and how alsico can help solve their workwear issues. In many of our country headquarters we have implemented online ordering portals where customers have their own dedicated platform to reorder stock and to find out about new products.

Across the business we utilize online monitoring platforms such as Analytics and SEM Rush to analyse our marketing activities and sales pipeline progress.