Weaving in the South of France
Visiting our manufacturers is important to us. It allows us to develop a deeper understanding of the fabrics we select and the regional characteristics that shape them.
At this weaving mill, a small team is creating wool, linen, hemp and métis fabrics using regional fibres. The design process, development, weaving and control is all done in house. The yarn or piece dyeing and the finishing are done at a OEKO-TEX certified company that is located 10km away from the mill.
An essential part of our philosophy of creating a complete wardrobe is a fine, elegant wool cloth that can be worn throughout the year. During our research, it quickly became clear that conventional fine wool fabrics were not an option. The sheep are often raised in Australia or New Zealand, far from their natural habitat, while subsequent processes such as washing, spinning and dyeing frequently take place elsewhere in the world, often with limited transparency. It is not uncommon for a finished wool fabric to have travelled more than 25,000 kilometres before reaching Europe.
The fine wool fabric we use, is woven in a small mill in the South of France, where all processes are handled as locally as possible.
The sheep graze in small flocks in the area Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, the wool is washed in Belgium, spun in the North of Italy, woven and finished close to the origin of the wool in the South of France.
The finely spun yarn is woven into a compact canvas with a modern appearance and a crisp hand. That gives the Adjustable Blazer Jacket and Single Pleat Pants, a natural drape and shape.
From the same mill, we selected the French Striped Hemp Fabric, we used for our Hemp Denim Jacket.
The raw hemp that is used for this fabric is grown in the South of France, in the same region where it is woven. The yarn is spun in Poland. The warp is undyed natural hemp and the yarn in the weft is dyed in blue, creating a traditional horizontal striped canvas.
Hemp is a fast-growing, durable fibre with deep roots in European textile history. Every part of the plant can be used—from textiles to seeds and oil.
The sturdiness of the hemp creates a garment that is suitable for everyday wear and lends it a natural sculptural structure.
Learning from the weavers how they work and seeing how much joy and pride they take in their work helped us to select fabrics that not just feel and look right in our personal aesthetic view, but also represents the terroir of the mill, the weavers and the location.
