Hi, it's me, Nicolò, who's speaking today!
It's been a long time since I talked about our clothes. But when Benoît gave me the opportunity to visit the Parisian workshop that produces our sheepskin jackets, in full production, I didn't hesitate!
So I took this chance to find out more about the behind-the-scenes production of this "luxury" piece. Yes, luxury. Because sheepskin is often the most expensive piece in a wardrobe. In fact, even the editorial enthusiasts don't all have it, preferring to save money rather than fall back on a second choice. That's how much of an investment it represents.
My mission: to give you my impressions, reveal some technical secrets, and tell you about the (real) people who give birth to your future jackets.
But before going into details, I will let the two managers of the tannery in Tarn and the Parisian workshop speak. Brother and sister, it's a family story...
The amount of manual operations required
The first thing that strikes you about producing a sheepskin is that it is significantly more laborious to assemble than a fabric piece.
A lot of additional manual work is required, in addition to the usual sewing machine assembly work.
#1 The cut, by hand
To begin with, the cutting is done entirely by hand , with a "knife" , for a clean line that preserves the skin.
No cutting machine like in a textile workshop. Cutting, long and tedious, is a specialty in itself.
And there is no room for error!
This is the very small, sharp knife that is used to cut skins with precision.
#2 Tabling, to give shape to the leather
Another point that surprised me : all parts of the jacket that are very flat, such as the piping on the pockets, are flattened by hand with a small hammer , in order to take shape.
This is called "tablage" , a preliminary step to assembly.
In short, if like me you were wondering how leather, supple and smooth, could take such a fixed shape on a jacket, I hope this information satisfies your curiosity.
#3 Mowing, for a haircut
Each place sewn to another piece of leather then sees its junctions trimmed before assembly, to avoid any unsightly excess thickness.
By the way, to give you an idea, our shearling is 2mm thick leather, for 12mm thick wool! A hell of a lot of armor, if I may say so.
Here, it is a large piece that is sheared, probably to create the compartment of a pocket. But each assembled piece will have its edges meticulously shaved by a few millimeters, to allow for precision assembly.
#4 Combing, for perfect finishes
Once assembled, the different pieces of leather undergo combing of their wool .
Double utility: to obtain a beautiful, uniform wool that is pleasant to the touch, but to straighten the pile which will hide the seams between the panels and insulate the jacket even more.
Here is the combing tool in action.
Little anecdote: the people in charge of sewing and assembling the parts by machine are nicknamed "the mecas"... Like mechanics!
And given the power and heavy rhythm of these big needles, made to pierce leather cleanly, I find that it is quite appropriate.
Samy is a "mechanic" in the workshop. That is to say, he sews the different parts of the jacket together, by machine.
"But this wool, is it soft or not?" 🤔
I had been warned: the wool of French sheep is a little less soft than that of their New Zealand cousins raised for their fleece. A speech to which I have become accustomed since our participation in the Tricolor project.
That said, Gregory, the manager of the Rial tannery, likes French leathers because they are very regular and supple. He even uses the words "perfect leather".
And finally, I am very pleasantly surprised! The Rial tannery has worked this woolen leather very well and it remains very pleasant. Especially since, a priori, no one planned to wear this woollen skin next to the skin.
The wool of our skins is beautiful and well worked. It remains soft enough for the collar to cover your neck when it is windy.
I don't find it much less soft than any shearling I've ever touched, even compared to $7,000 or $8,000 pieces while exploring luxury boutiques while traveling.
A winning compromise for an ultra-luxury quality jacket, made in France from A to Z, from the raw material to the manufacturing.
A certain vision of Made in France 🇫🇷
After talking about technology, I would like to mention another significant aspect of my visit.
This is the first French workshop I have visited, all types of clothing combined.
And if I am the first to point out that we should not put French manufacturing on a pedestal , I came away from this visit with a new feeling.
That of proximity: geographical, cultural and above all human proximity.
Frat is a spreadsheet writer in the workshop, he is the one who carries out this famous operation which gives the skins their shape.
I heard men and women bringing our jackets to life while exchanging jokes among colleagues.
A small, human-sized team of around twenty people, who work in a setting not so different from mine, despite very different professions.
And... it gave me a certain pride .
It's quite strange to say it like that, but it gave me the impression that it was "even more our products" than usual.
In fact, when we produce clothes abroad, it's different: we design the garment at home in Paris, and hey presto, a few months later, it appears here in the form of a prototype, in a box from Portugal, Italy, Romania or England.
Like magic!
Of course, we are very proud of each of our clothes, but we must admit that sometimes there is a more "distant" feeling...
While this jacket is made in the middle of Paris, 4 km from our offices. Yes, 4 km.
In the event that I had forgotten something for this article, I could have walked down the stairs, taken the metro and asked my question at the workshop a few minutes later over coffee.
Apprentice model maker and "mechanic", and having already worked for the biggest luxury brands, Anaïs is a young virtuoso of leather clothing. And it was really funny for me to meet a friend during a workshop visit.
A boss just for us
Above all, there are concrete advantages to having production in France, close to home. In particular, the ease of access to the designer of this jacket: Marlène .
Modeling, as Anaïs would say, is a bit like the “architecture” of clothing.
And a pattern is like a building plan: if you want a beautiful, balanced and harmonious house, having the best workers in the world will not be enough if you do not have a clever architect who has thought of everything.
And working with a pattern maker, who makes a pattern just for us, rather than simply modifying existing bases, allows us to really go further.
Marlène, the designer of our jacket
We arrived at a really satisfactory fit, without multiplying the fittings and modifications.
A nice fitted but comfortable cut. Let us know what you think!
"Do you really think we can talk about "luxury" quality?"
According to you, Nicolò, we can say that with this jacket we have achieved a quality similar to the biggest luxury brands, which make shearlings for 3,000 or 5,000 euros?
This is the question that Benoît asked me, point-blank, when I returned from the workshop.
Well I think so.
I have not seen any step of manufacturing that was not carried out using the most careful processes. And as for the skins, all the pieces I have seen on our production were free of any defects. Which is rare on large pieces of leather.
Finally, it is a jacket entirely made in France, without any compromise.
In short, apart from offering a slightly off-the-wall avant-garde design (and I don't think that's what you expect from us), I simply don't see what more we could have done.
So I'll conclude on this: I'm very proud of what we've done on this jacket . And for me it's a little dream come true, a kind of milestone that we're reaching again.
