Symbol of luxury, Calais-Caudry lace fights to perpetuate its know-how – 05/27/2024 at 10:54

From deafening 14-ton machines, they have been producing lace of unparalleled finesse for two centuries. But the lacemakers of Calais and Caudry are today worried about the transmission of their know-how, in a prestigious sector which is at stake for its survival.

With his blackened fingers and precise gestures, Rémy Dumont, 26, repairs a broken thread in a Leavers loom, a cast iron monster that emerged from the Industrial Revolution, which interweaves around 15,000 threads.

He and his big brother Anthony are the only two students to follow apprenticeship training this year towards a vocational baccalaureate in the sector, at the junction of industry and crafts. They follow in the footsteps of their father, who worked in lace before his dismissal.

“At the start, I said to myself: + I will never succeed! +”, confides Anthony Dumont, 29 years old, from the Cité de lalace in Calais, where the two brothers are learning, among the visitors, to use these machines heritage.

Popular with great fashion designers around the world, at Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy and Gucci, Calais-Caudry lace has benefited from a geographical indication since February to protect it from counterfeiting, without managing to counter the drop in activity in the sector, who fears disappearing.

The indication includes six companies, where there were around forty in 2001 and 230 in the 1950s.

– Warper, winder, scaler –

“To say that I’m not worried would be to lie. More and more factories are closing,” notes Rémy Dumont.

Invented in England at the beginning of the 19th century then perfected in France in 1837 by the Jacquard system, which allows patterns to be added, mechanical tulle looms imitate the movement of the hands of a lacemaker working with a bobbin.

In the Leavers professions, “the human presence, the hand, the eye and the ear are essential, which makes it an industry of excellence”, underlines Lydia Kamitsis, fashion specialist, who wrote a book on the sector.

Warper, winder, scaler… 25 looms are necessary to manufacture Leavers lace, which has been facing the brunt of competition from knitted lace for around twenty years, often manufactured in Asia at a much faster pace and at a lower cost. 10 to 15 times less.

Mid-range textile brands supply there, leaving only the narrow luxury market to the lacemakers of Calais-Caudry.

“At Desseilles (the company where the two brothers are apprentices, Editor’s note), a good part of the staff who trained us were made redundant,” reports Anthony Dumont.

In December, Darquer & Méry took over Desseilles, at the cost of 50 job cuts in yet another social plan.

The lace training unit could accommodate many more apprentices, but is faced with the lack of attractiveness of the profession among young people and low demand from companies, explains trainer Stéphane Capon.

– Kate Middleton and Beyoncé –

“In the lace of Calais, the population is very aging, around 55 years old, so if we do not replace these people, it will be an extinction,” worries the man who formed classes of 30 students in the early 2000s.

In Caudry, the lacemaker Solstiss can be proud of having dressed Beyoncé and contributed to Kate Middleton’s wedding dress. But its turnover and its number of employees have been halved in around fifteen years.

“The big luxury goods have not always played the game”, they too buy in Asia, deplores co-manager Christophe Machu, whose family has worked in lace for three generations.

“There is a volume (of orders) below which we cannot maintain the know-how: we will be missing links in the manufacturing process and if one is missing, the product will no longer be able to be made,” he alerts.

No longer able to survive independently, the company now manages certain activities internally (piercing Jacquard boxes, dyeing), which broadens its skills but affects its profitability.

Due to a lack of sufficient orders, Solstiss resorts to long-term partial activity, with some employees only working 28 hours/week.

“It’s going to disappear,” says Alexandra Ledieu, correcting the defects in the lace coming out of the machines with a needle. This 31-year-old finishing operator is convinced that her factory will not have a buyer, after the current boss.