If you love gloves, you had probably heard about
Millau, a wondrous place renowned by its famous viaduct, and for being the center
glove-making world.
This commune belongs to the
Aveyron department in the
French Midi-Pyrenees region of southern
France.
In the 9th century, Millau started to grown and became the center for the production of simple lambskin gloves. Then, in the 12th century, there was a great demand of new materials, textures, and designs. All kinds of skins were used: stag,
peccary, python, ostrich, doeskin, lamb, suede, chamois.
This unique expertise of glove-making has been preserved by the families in Millau and in early 20th century, the industry had 12,000 employees manufacturing
5 million pairs of gloves a year and exporting them worldwide.
Exceptional quality gloves have been manufactured with luxurious exotic leathers for famous fashion houses such as: Dior, Chanel, and Hermès. Millau has been granted with the title of Ville et Métiers d'Art.
In the 1960s, gloves were not as fashionable as before. The industry lost many of the eminent glove makers. Luckily, in the last 10 years, fashion gloves are having a comeback in the world, starting in Paris. Three Millau-based companies,
Maison Causse, Maison Fabre and Lavabre Cadet, preserving their glove-making traditions, are bringing back the glove fashion to the 21st century users.
Source: Aveyron.com, hotel-des-causses.com, Francetoday.com
Images: Bloomberg, Tourisme-Aveyron
