Valorisation Patrimoine Sud Tarn
English Version of the Expo
VOILÀ
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Fellmongery: An Industry to Discover or Rediscover in Mazamet...
Welcome to our covered hall in Mazamet to discover or rediscover the extraordinary story of fellmongery, which began in the mid-19th century and continued until the early 2000s.
Fellmongery originated in Mazamet around 1850 when the industrialist Pierre-Elie Houlès imported sheep skins from Argentina to apply a technique aimed at separating the wool from the skin.
For more than a century, from 1850 to 2000, Mazamet forged international connections and developed a high-quality industry at the forefront of progress, contributing to the local industrial dynamism at least until the early 1980s.
Fellmongery still continues today in the vitality of the town and the employment basin of Southern Tarn: many of today's companies indeed find their roots in the wool industry. Their leaders often come from old fellmongersfamilies.
Move forward, look, wander, breathe, observe, stroll, and enjoy a journey we have designed to be playful, educational, rich in experience, full of history, and, we hope, filled with strong emotions!
Enjoy your visit!
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The Sheep at the Heart of an Odyssey Begun Around 1850...
At that time, Mazamet was just a small center for the manufacture of cloth and flannel, supplied by wool from local sheep flocks. The economic policy of the Second Empire changed everything, increasing the demand for raw materials.
In 1851, the fabric manufacturer Pierre-Elie Houlès had the idea of importing two bales of sheep skins from Argentina with the intention of using their wool.
This trial turned into a real success, as 20 years later, the
fledgling industry already had about ten factories supplied
by skins from fifteen trading posts established in La Plata.
From that time, driven by vigorous pioneers, the wool
brokers of Mazamet were meeting the needs of the
regional, then national industry, and were already
beginning to make their wool known abroad.
Bales of skins shipped from Argentina to Mazamet
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Fellmongery, an Increasingly Prosperous Industry
Fellmongery constantly progressed to include, by 1950, around fifty factories processing approximately 100,000 sheep skins per day (more than 25 million per year) and 42 tanneries.
More than 500 firms in Mazamet were involved
in importing skins, fellmongery, trading,
washing and carbonizing wool, wool and
leather brokerage.
Finally, driven by fellmongery, hosiery factories,
Basque beret makers, leather goods
manufacturers, cutting, fertilizer, and chemical
product companies emerged and thrived
as well.
Thus, Mazamet managed to grow and shine,
according to its proud motto, despite the fiercest competition.
The excellence of Mazamet's fellmongery products, especially wool, was the essential condition for this prodigious development. This success is due to the spirit of boldness and entrepreneurship, commercial and financial skill, a sense of fair management, and the experience and wisdom of the workers, which have always characterized the people of this small town with an exceptionally grand destiny.
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Fellmongery in 1951 Through Some Figures...
ANNUAL IMPORT OF SHEEP SKINS: 48,000 tons,
representing 75% of the skins exported from major
livestock countries.
ANNUAL PRODUCTION: 45 factories producing
20,000 tons of washed wool, 1,700,000 dozen cuirots*
* fresh skin that has been dried and takes on
the appearance, to summarize, of parchment.
Photos extracted from the article published in France
Illustration magazine on May 12, 1951, and the book
"Les mille et une duites" by Alain Le Guehennec (1984).
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June 1951, Celebration of the Centenary of Fellmongery**
The year 1951 celebrates the economic success and prosperity of Mazamet through the Centenary Celebrations of Fellmongery, forever etched in the memory of the people of Mazamet.
The centenary exhibition of fellmongery takes place from June 6 to 10, 1951.
Having become an industry with a distinctly international character, fellmongery came to process 75% of the skins exported annually from major livestock countries.
Poster of the Centenary Exhibition of Fellmongery
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Fellmongery, a Proven Process in 8 Steps
Sheep and lamb skins, generally from animals slaughtered for meat consumption, are dried, disinfected, and preserved either dry or salted. These are purchased on behalf of the Mazamet fellmongers and then subjected to the main fellmongery operations.
Grading involves sorting the skins according to their quality, and the fineness and length of the wool; it can be done before fleshing or just before pulling.
Soaking in special vats aims to soften the leather and makes the skin capable of withstanding the fleshing process.
Deburring involves passing the skin under a strong stream of water between two cylinders armed with metal blades, which removes most of the impurities it contains, such as soil, sand, thistles, straw, etc. This operation is entrusted to the "deburring operator," whose specialty represents a kind of aristocracy in fellmongery. Paid per task, the deburring operator receives a higher wage than the other fellmongery workers.
Resoaking, conditioned by the water temperature and the nature of the skins, does not last more than 24 hours.
Illustration from the book "Le délainage et sa capitale Mazamet" by Gaston Poulain - 1951
Panel 7
The sweating process involves bringing the skin to the precise state where the wool will detach easily and completely from the root. This process, known as ‘sweating process’, involves placing the freshly scraped and soaked skins in small closed heated rooms. It's an extremely delicate operation, the conditions of which vary throughout the day: it ranges from thirty-six hours in summer to five to six days in winter, depending largely on the type of skin.
In this very hot and humid atmosphere, bacterias appear that will open the hair bulb and then release the hair, emitting a very strong ammonia smell.
Pulling: Skinners stretch the skin on a wooden board and begin with the peeling off process, so called pulling, which consists of removing the wool from the prime areas such as the shoulder, back, and sides. Subsequently, on another wooden board, they perform 'dagging' or sorting of the soiled parts such as the legs and belly.
Like the deburring operator, the puller works piece-rate and departs, leaving the subsequent operations to the handlers or 'marragos'.
Illustration from the book "Le délainage et sa capitale Mazamet" by Gaston POULAIN – 1951
Panel 8
Drying and sorting: At this stage, we have the 'pelade', which is the wool separated from the skin, and the slat ('cuirot'), both of which are dried and sorted.
The fellmongering process is now complete, resulting in 'washed wools' that still contain a variable percentage of impurities (grease, dirt, straw), suitable for most carders.
Panel 9
The pioneers of the commercial organization of fellmongery
How did the fellmongering products from Mazamet manage to surpass their initial market,predominantly local, then to reach first the national and then the international level?
There is only one possible explanation!
Thanks to the first-rate commercial organization of Mazamet and the bold entrepreneurial spirit of importers!
Fellmongers, unable to rely on an existing commercial organization, had to adopt a division of labor into three main elements:
• Purchase of raw materials
• Fellmongery
• Sales of products
Initially, there was the system of trading posts, followed by the emergence of sales agents for sheepskins, qualified representatives of exporting houses from Australia, New Zealand, the Cape, South America, North Africa, and all sheep-exporting countries worldwide. These agents were tasked with seeking out all possible production sources, stimulating the creation of specialized firms, and always adapting them to the needs of Mazamet.
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The broker and the commercial organization of fellmongery
For the sale of the products, "the broker is a crucial component of the Mazamet commercial system."
Established in the market, it is the broker who receives
customer requests, searches for batches that meet
these demands, and ultimately purchases them
on behalf of the client. It's not the industrialist who has
the clientele, it's the broker.
Brokers are essential pillars of our market...
Thanks to their number and that of their clients, brokers
can foster competition and enable merchants
to optimize their sales...
From the outset of the first Mazamet sheepskin wools,
brokers have indeed strived to find lucrative placements
for them, thereby encouraging our initial importers
to continue and expand their operations...
Edouard Cormouls-Houlès doesn't hesitate to describe brokers as "pioneers of Mazamet's commercial expansion."
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Let's recall that there also existed, for the slats (‘cuirots’), the corporation of slats brokers.
The wool merchants, who acquire the wool in a roughly raw state known as "washed wools," supply the demand...
Their raison d'être is to fulfill complex orders, thus allowing each merchant to specialize!
Finally, let's not forget the “Condition Publique”, which assigns a "normal commercial weight" to a merchandise, which is essentially hygrometric. An initiative by Charles Sabatié in 1889, who created this institution to prevent any disputes!
* freshly dried skins taking on the appearance of parchment
Sources:
Illustrations taken from the work "Le délainage et sa capitale Mazamet" by Gaston POULAIN - 1951
And from the book "Mille et une duites" by Alain Le Guehennec – 1984
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Mazamet trading posts and other forms of procurement
Associated activities:
- Transportation
- Insurance
- Brokerage
- Construction
- Banking
- Crafts and commerce
Panel 13
The stages of Mazamet's industrial history
In the Middle Ages:
Sheep herds from the mountains provide wool. Rivers with strong currents supply the necessary energy for fulling mills. Peasants need supplementary activities to sustain themselves. Spinning and weaving feed the local market of the Hautpoulois.
In the 16th century:
A few weavers gradually move away from strictly manual labor and attend major fairs to sell their fabrics. Trade routes also serve as conduits for the exchange of ideas. Merchant-manufacturers in Mazamet embrace Calvinism.
In the 18th century:
Despite religious wars, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and persecutions, this small industrial center thrives due to the quality of work carried out in homes and small workshops. Mazamet remains distant from the major drapery towns of Lower Languedoc.
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The Industrial Revolution
Between 1785 and 1850, Mazamet established a complete textile industry, developing all finishing processes. Salesmen traveled across France. Industries centralized in factories. Mazamet became a recognized textile hub with increasing wool demands.
The Odyssey of Fellmongery
Starting from 1851, two innovations revolutionized the system. A commercial innovation: purchasing sheepskins from Southern Hemisphere countries. An industrial innovation: the fellmongering using the “Sweating process”, ensuring full fleece recovery without compromising wool quality. Numerous fellmongering factories solidified Mazamet's pivotal role in wool trading. Proximity to clients in an industrialized Europe was a crucial advantage.
Today
Direct competition from China and the loss of local clients have made fellmongering Australian sheepskins economically unviable in Mazamet. Yet, other activities continue, related to textile fibers and leather, as well as diversified industries deeply rooted in the local fabric.
Panel 15
The "mal charbon" or anthrax infection, a deadly disease for fellmongers
This disease struck workers from the beginning of the fellmongery activity in Mazamet and quickly earned the nickname "mal charbon" (anthrax). Originally an animal disease primarily affecting sheep, it was common for sheepskins from major livestock countries in the South (Argentina, Uruguay, South Africa, Maghreb, Central Europe, or Spain) to be infected with the Bacillus anthracis bacterium. During the processing of these skins, particularly during tenderizing and fleshing, the anthrax bacterium contaminated workers through simple skin contact. Initially, a small bump would appear, which would develop into a malignant pustule. If not treated promptly and if the bacterium breached the skin barrier and entered the bloodstream, it caused septicemia in the individual, leading to death within about ten days.
Faced with the severity of the disease, Jean Cavaillé, Labor Inspector of Tarn, created a poster advocating essential preventive measures. He demanded the immediate cessation of processing implicated batches of skins, their destruction, and the cessation of commercial relations with the implicated suppliers unless new guarantees were provided. Additionally, he required disinfection of premises by washing floors, walls, and machinery, as well as whitewashing the walls.
The "mal charbon" disappeared by the late 1950s.
64 cases were recorded from January 1902 to October 1910.
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Water, a source of energy for wool washing...
The water from rivers flowing down from the Montagne Noire
with crystalline rocks has always been suitable for wool
washing because it does not contain excessive limestone
elements. However, we should not see this as deterministic:
the water quality has not changed, yet fellmongery
has disappeared.
Most importantly, rivers played a significant role by providing
energy from the earliest times until the 20th century.
Hydraulic energy offers several advantages:
1. It is free once the infrastructure is set up (dams, canals, gates, wheel or turbine maintenance).
2. It is non-polluting. The fellmongering process itself polluted the river with natural elements only (soil, twigs, exotic seeds).
3. It is renewable, though with lower flow rates in summer. Workers used this downtime for agricultural work initially and later for vacations.
4. It enabled successive supply to multiple industrial establishments: the Arnette Valley was lined with factories.
Today, waterfalls from several vanished mills continue to generate electrical energy.
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Fellmongering and craftsmanship
Engaged high school students!
We approached the Leather Goods department at the Marie-Antoinette RIESS technical high school in Mazamet. With enthusiasm, the school team offered their assistance in creating the exhibition mascot and contributing to the thematic leather workshop.
Art and sheep!
Each week, a guest artist shares their interpretation of fellmongery through their art. We aim to firmly root the exhibition in local life and establishing connections with artists from Tarn appears to be a natural fit.
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Professions associated with fellmongery
Even today, in the southern Tarn region, there are numerous businesses that thrive on fellmongery or are closely linked to it. We asked Didier HOULÈS, a photographer in his spare time, to pay tribute to them through a series of photographs. His work adorns the walls of the exhibition hall.
Didier Houlès, originally from Aussillon, is a political figure and a
passionate amateur photographer. Alongside his political career,
which includes roles such as mayor of Aussillon and vice-president
of the Tarn departmental council, he finds solace in photography,
capturing the beauty of rural landscapes and everyday scenes.
His serene photographs are regularly exhibited locally, showcasing
his deep commitment to the region.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to him for his stunning photographs, which enrich and perfectly illustrate our exhibition.
François SIRE, President of the association
for promoting fellmongery in southern Tarn
Special thanks to :
Our patrons :
Crédit Agricole
Entreprise Philippe Rives SAS Colombié et Fils SAS
Henri Arnaud SAS - Clair de Laine
Raynaud Jeune SARL
Maison Berthille - Hand luggage and leather
Our Partners:
Restaurant traiteur LE BOULEVARD
And of course the city of Mazamet and their mayor and his whole team that provided us with a huge help.
Olivier Fabre, the mayor of Mazamet, quickly embraced the project, firstly by agreeing to provide financial support from the city and secondly by making available a former industrial building, now known as the hall, located in the heart of the city.
We warmly thank our main public supporters: the department of Tarn, the municipalities of Mazamet, Pont de l’Arn, and Aussillon.
We also thank the municipalities of Bout du Pont de l’Arn, Payrin, Caucalières, and Saint Amans Valtoret.
Thanks to your valuable financial or material support, this exhibition dedicated to fellmongery saga has been able to come to life and be realized.
François SIRE, President of Association de valorisation du délainage dans le Tarn sud