Valorisation Patrimoine Sud Tarn
Panel 2
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.
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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.
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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
