The SNCF renews its collaboration with the CEPOVETT Group, under the sign of femininity
SINCE JUNE 1, 2018, SNCF HAS BEGUN DEPLOYING THE NEW CHANGING ROOMS FOR THE 51,000 AGENTS IN THE NETWORK AND MOBILITY TECHNICAL TEAMS.
The French leader in professional clothing, which has been dressing railway workers in personal protective equipment (PPE) since 2013, has rethought the overall wardrobe in depth and created a complete collection for women, as part of a European call for tenders, to enable female SNCF employees to enjoy the best quality of work. In three years, CEPOVETT will supply 2 million parts, including 1 million for the PPE locker room. These product lines have been designed by CEPOVETT Safety, the specialized PPE brand within the CEPOVETT group.
For the first time in France, a national-level company has created a technical industrial PPE locker specifically dedicated to its female staff. The SNCF is at the forefront in taking women into account in the workplace and is now able to offer its female team members the same level of ranges and articles as those offered to men. For the public company, these new outfits are the guarantee of a better integration and of a valorization of the female staff, as “cheminotte”, but also the guarantee of more ergonomics and comfort.
Specific features have been added to the women’s cuts: for polo shirts and jackets, chest darts and more pronounced waistlines, and for pants, a higher crotch, a more fitted waistline and a back riser for better positional comfort. In addition to the main collection, the secondary wardrobe also benefits from specifically feminine items ranging from thermal underwear to various parkas, as well as down jackets, fleeces and other softshells, which complete the most extensive coherent range on the national market.
We started from scratch”, explains Daniele Lacchini, Key Account Manager at Cepovett. “It was not a question of adapting the existing collection but of creating a new collection rethought in its entirety from the point of view of shapes, materials, overall colors, and ergonomics, which includes cuts adapted to the female morphology. 
The first objective remains the safety of the agents
The project group, composed of experts from CEPOVETT Safety and SNCF, has defined three ranges M1, M2 and M5, able to offer the best safety guarantees for the teams, both for the simple management of electrostatic charges and for protection against electric arcs, without forgetting high visibility and other risks related to the flame. Comfort is also a priority. All pants are equipped with knee pockets, and for the winter models, lumbar protections. In terms of maintenance, all PPE clothing is designed to withstand the professional washing conditions necessary to guarantee the durability of the articles, in compliance with European regulations and the law.
The logistics of a single locker room for a common image
Benefiting from the feedback of the field staff, the SNCF can now offer its agents a unique and even more accomplished checkroom, in line with the current strong and appreciated image. Available in three ranges according to the risks and constraints of the profession, the collection designed by CEPOVETT Safety improves the feeling of integration of technical agents in an SNCF identity, while offering a great flexibility of choice of complementary products that enter the secondary locker room (down jackets, fleeces, softshells, parkas …). To do this, CEPOVETT Safety proposed an innovative solution by forming an industrial partnership with two French companies, Codupal, a specialist in rainwear, and Lafuma, a historic brand of sportswear and outdoor clothing, to complete the weather collection. Thus, the users can easily harmonize their outfit by asking for a restocking, thanks to a logistics and a delivery service to the establishment, centralized by CEPOVETT Safety, in short times.
After a very demanding European call for tenders, we chose to entrust the manufacture and management of the main and secondary checkrooms to the CEPOVETT Group, a French company and long-standing partner,” explains the SNCF’s purchasing department. Our standards were very high. They integrated the quality of the garment with textiles produced in France, but also a logistical management including the ability to decatiate the articles of the main wardrobe and to mark them by name for individual secure deliveries.
It is a great pride that the SNCF awards our team not only the renewal of the main checkroom contract, but also the management of the secondary checkroom, it is a great mark of confidence, says Gaël Vanneuville, General Manager of the CEPOVETT Group. In addition, our group is very involved in the place that women must still take in the industrial environment. The SNCF’s request enriched our thinking and benefited from the experience of our teams who work more specifically in the field of uniform image. Finally, all the cuts of the new models have been redesigned.
