Hello, it’s me, Nicolò, speaking today!
It's been a long time since I last talked about our clothes. But when Benoît gave me the opportunity to visit the Parisian workshop that produces our shearling jackets, in full production, I didn't hesitate!
So I took this chance to discover more behind the scenes of the making of this “luxury” piece. Yes, luxury. Because shearling is often the most expensive item in a wardrobe. In fact, even editorial enthusiasts are not all equipped with it, preferring to save money rather than fall back on a second choice. This shows the investment that this 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 give the floor to the two managers of the tannery in Tarn and the Parisian workshop. Brother and sister, it's a family story...
The amount of manual operations required
The first thing that jumps out at you about producing a shearling is that it is significantly more laborious to assemble than a piece of fabric.
Many additional manual operations are 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”
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 Tabbing, to give shape to the leather
Another point that surprised me
This is what we call “tabulation” , a preliminary step to assembly.
In short, if like me you were wondering how leather, supple and smooth, could take such a fixed form on a jacket, I hope this information will satisfy your curiosity.
#3 Clipping, for a perfect cut
Each place sewn to another piece of leather then has its joints trimmed before assembly, to avoid any unsightly excess thickness.
Besides, to give you an idea, our shearling is 2mm thick of leather, compared to 12mm thick of wool! Quite an 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 over a few millimeters, to allow precision assembly.
#4 Combing, for perfect finishes
Once assembled, the different pieces of leather undergo combing of their wool .
Double use: to obtain a beautiful, homogeneous wool that is pleasant to the touch, but to straighten the pile which will hide the seams between the yokes and insulate the jacket even more.
Here's the combing tool in action.
Little anecdote: the people responsible for sewing and assembling the parts by machine are nicknamed "the mechanics"... Like mechanics!
And given the power and heavy rhythm of these large needles, made to pierce leather cleanly, I think it's entirely appropriate.
Samy is a “mechanic” at the workshop. That is to say who sews the different parts of the jacket together, by machine.
“But this wool, is it soft or not?” 🤔
I was 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, Grégory, the manager of the Rial tannery, likes French skins, 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 really well, which remains very pleasant.
The wool of our skins is beautiful and well worked. It's still soft enough that the collar covers your neck when it's 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 raw materials to manufacturing.
A certain vision of Made in France 🇫🇷
After talking technical, I would like to mention another notable aspect of my visit.
This is the first French workshop that I have visited, any type of confection combined.
And if I am the first to remind you that French manufacturing should not be put on a pedestal
That of proximity: geographical, cultural and above all human proximity.
Frat is a spreadsheet artist in the workshop, it is he who carries out this famous operation which gives its shape to the skins.
I heard men and women bring our jackets to life by exchanging jokes with colleagues.
A small team on a human scale, of around twenty people, who work in a framework not so different from mine, despite very distant professions.
And... it gave me a certain pride .
It's quite strange said 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 boom, a few months later, it appears here in the form of a prototype, in a box from the Portugal, Italy, Romania or England.
As if by magic !
Of course, we are very proud of each of our clothes, but we must admit that there is sometimes a more "distant" feeling...
Whereas here, this jacket is made in the middle of Paris, 4 km from our offices. Yes, 4 km.
In the event that I had forgotten any information for this article, I could have gone down the stairs, taken the metro and asked my question at the workshop a few minutes later over a coffee.
An 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 to meet a friend during a workshop visit.
A boss just for us
Above all, there are concrete advantages to producing in France, close to home. In particular the ease of access to the designer of this jacket: Marlène
Pattern making, as Anaïs would say, is a bit like the “architecture” of clothing.
And a boss is like a building plan: if you want a beautiful, balanced and harmonious house, having the best workers in the world won't be enough if you don't 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 fittings and modifications.
A nice slim fit, but comfortable. You will tell us the news!
“Do you really think we can talk about “luxury” quality?”
According to you Nicolò, we can declare that we have achieved with this jacket a quality similar to the biggest luxury houses, which make shearlings at 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 a single manufacturing step that was not carried out using the most careful processes. And as for the skins, all the pieces I saw on our production were free from any defects. Which is rare on large leather inserts.
Finally, it is a jacket entirely made in France, without any compromise.
In short, apart from offering a slightly perched avant-garde design (and that's not what you expect from us I think), I simply don't see what more we could have done.
So I would conclude with this: I am very proud of what we did on this jacket . And for me it's a little dream that comes true, a kind of step that we're still taking.
