Ribbon art in the Saint-Etienne region

Our lavender wands are woven with ribbons from one of France’s last family-run ribbon factories, located in the Haute Loire, not far from Saint Etienne. An opportunity to tell you about the ribbon tradition in this region.
Ribbon is a generally narrow fabric, sometimes as wide as cloth, but distinguished by a visible selvedge. A fashion and luxury accessory, ribbon reached its golden age in the 1815s.
Ribbon-making is one of the traditional activities that have dominated Saint Etienne’s industrial history. Indeed, the first ribbon-makers settled in Saint-Etienne as early as the 16th century. In 1605, a brotherhood of ribbon workers was founded in the church of Saint Etienne.
Initially associated with the silk industry in Lyon, ribbon-making has taken on a life of its own in this region between the Haute Loire and the Loire. From the end of the 18th century, ribbon-making gradually shaped the town and its neighborhoods.
After 1772, mechanical looms were introduced in Saint-Étienne, which became a major center for silk ribbon manufacture. After the French Revolution and Empire, the ribbon industry boomed, and the period from 1815 to 1856 was a golden age for Saint-Etienne ribbon. The town succeeded in adapting the Jacquard mechanism to the ribbon loom. The advantage of this technical innovation at the time was to produce a greater variety of ribbons. Around 1880, this activity was partly relocated to the countryside, contributing to the development of certain mountain villages in the Pilat and Haute-Loire regions. On the eve of the First World War, the ribbon industry employed 30,000 people and, together with related industries, provided a livelihood for over 80,000 people around Saint-Étienne.
Since then, the ribbon industry has flourished in the town, enhancing Saint-Etienne’s reputation as the world’s leading ribbon-making city. Today, the Musée d’Art et d’Industrie de Saint-Etienne boasts an exceptional collection of ribbons, with two and a half million samples.
Today, there are still a few traditional ribbon factories in the region, internationally renowned for the quality of their ribbons.