Discovering LOI Confection: 30 years of textile excellence in Madagascar

Every Azala piece begins with a fabric that has already lived. But where does that fabric come from? The answer fits in three letters and a name: LOI Confection, a workshop of more than a thousand people based in Antananarivo, Madagascar. This article is a portrait of that rare industrial partner, whose quiet excellence feeds Azala's creative work — and an explanation of why a workshop like this is, in fact, one of the best-kept secrets of high-end textile.

A thirty-year story in Madagascar

LOI Confection was founded in 1995 by Chabina Meraly, in a Malagasy economy that was at the time still distant from international garment-making. The workshop began with a few dozen machines and one intuition: making Madagascar a benchmark for high-end childrenswear production. In 2009, the company made a decisive pivot towards ready-to-wear (RTW) for demanding European brands. Three decades later, LOI employs more than a thousand people and works with some of the most respected children's fashion houses.

The full story — founders, milestones, Malagasy roots — is told on LOI Confection's About page.

Industrial scale and artisanal know-how, side by side

What makes LOI singular is the coexistence of two scales. On one hand, an industrial tool able to produce between 1.5 and 2 million garments per year, with the rigour the major fashion houses require. On the other, finishing workshops where the hand still leads: hand embroidery, smocking, crochet, screen printing, applications, pleating. This dual capability lets LOI absorb runs of 300 pieces as comfortably as 10,000+ orders, without compromising on finishing.

The technical detail is documented on LOI Confection's expertise page.

Five certifications that actually commit

In textile, certifications are too often a marketing argument. At LOI, they shape day-to-day operations:

• GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) — the global reference for organic cotton, from field to finished garment.
• BSCI Grade A — the highest grade of the Business Social Compliance Initiative audit on working conditions.
• WRAP Platinum — the top tier of the Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production standard.
• OCS (Organic Content Standard) — traceability of organic fibres in the finished product.
• ICS (Initiative for Compliance and Sustainability) — the social audit driven by French retailers.

The full set is detailed on LOI Confection's certifications page.

A social commitment that is rare in the industry

Beyond certifications, LOI has built, on its Malagasy site, a social ecosystem that goes well beyond legal obligations. The workshop hosts a milk bank that lets young mothers continue breastfeeding during working hours, a free canteen open to employees' children, an on-site health house for staff and their families, and sports facilities accessible to the wider community.

On the environmental side, close to 40% of the site's energy comes from solar panels, and a permaculture project is gradually turning part of the land into a productive growing area. These initiatives are not cosmetic: they describe a certain way of running an industry, where profitability and dignity are not at odds. The full picture is laid out on LOI Confection's CSR page.

The Sobika atelier: Malagasy raffia, reimagined

As a diversification of its textile activity, LOI created Sobika, a workshop dedicated to hand-crocheted raffia accessories. There, raffia is sorted, dyed in 24 stable shades, and crocheted by artisans trained on site. Sobika has become a referenced supplier for European leather goods and ready-to-wear houses looking for a natural, local material — and a know-how that simply cannot be relocated.

The workshop is presented on the Sobika page.

Azala and LOI: from textile waste to signature piece

Azala began with a simple intuition, born from a less-simple observation. Sofiane Bouhali, founder of Azala, is Chabina Meraly's son. Growing up between France and Madagascar, he watched, year after year, the quantity of perfectly noble fabrics that piled up at the margin of industrial production: cutting scraps, end-of-roll lengths, yardage reserved for collections that would never see the light, samples. Material that is often magnificent — Liberty, fine poplins, organic jerseys, embroideries — destined to sit unused.

Azala turned that material into its starting point. The studio recovers the structural scraps from LOI's production, sorts them by quality, weight and potential use, then re-qualifies them in capsule collections that are entirely upcycled. No new fabric is ordered for Azala: every piece is born from material that already existed, sometimes for several seasons.

This way of working enables something rare: producing garments of very fine craftsmanship, in fabrics that only luxury workshops normally buy, without launching a single new metre of textile production. For LOI, it is also a way of extending the life of its own industrial waste — not by recycling it as a by-product, but by seeing it leave again as a signature piece.

Working with LOI Confection

For brands looking for a production partner that combines industrial discipline, hand know-how, and a credible social and environmental commitment, LOI Confection remains one of the most relevant workshops in the Indian Ocean region. Commercial contacts and useful information are available on LOI Confection's contact page.