{"id":59925,"date":"2026-07-31T14:32:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/59925\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T14:32:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:32:22","slug":"if-the-glove-fits-hermes-revives-french-leather-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/59925\/","title":{"rendered":"If the glove fits: Herm\u00e8s revives French leather-work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Lefort is handling a soft, brown, suede hide like a pastry chef. The glover of 32 years drapes the supple lambskin over his wooden workbench, bastes it with water and begins intuitively pulling and stretching the surface to find the perfect spot to cut a pattern. \u201cYou need to find the elasticity so the glove can come off easily without altering the shape,\u201d he says, etching a line in white ink. He reaches for his large antique-looking shears and a main de fer (iron hand): a complex glove-shaped contraption that works as a template to cut a pattern in a hydraulic press. \u201cThis was invented by a man called Xavier Jouvin in Grenoble in 1838.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Jouvin\u2019s method survives, the booming glove industry he knew did not. This southwesterly French town of Saint-Junien in Limousin was once its epicentre.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were 55 glove factories here in the late 1960s and just a few remain,\u201d says Lefort, who flicks through a brochure that shows the gilded glove advertisements that defined the town\u2019s heyday. \u201cWhen the glove workshops closed most of the workers moved into the paper and cardboard industries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet this new facility, with its warren of light-filled workshops, is part of a movement to revive the region\u2019s leather-making tradition. It was inaugurated in June by French luxury giant Herm\u00e8s, which acquired and converted the vast derelict building that was once a wool mill. Today it is a two-storey manufacturing space on the banks of the Vienne River with state-of-the-art wooden worktops and an elegant staff canteen. It\u2019s surrounded by many abandoned factories, home to the tanneries and gantiers (glove-makers) of a former era.<\/p>\n

\"OrangeHorsing around <\/p>\n

\"Artisan\u2018Fantaisie\u2019 workshop<\/p>\n

\"HandsFamous label <\/p>\n

\"ThreeMen\u2019s gloves <\/p>\n

\"ThierryThierry Thom\u00e9, director of the \u2018ganterie\u2019<\/p>\n

\"InteriorSmall workshop<\/p>\n

\"AnPolishing leathergoods<\/p>\n

\"Herm\u00e8sView of the factory in Saint-Junien<\/p>\n

\"WoodenTools of the trade<\/p>\n

\"StackedSquares of coloured leather<\/p>\n

\"WoodenAwls<\/p>\n

\"ArtisanSaddlemaker stitching <\/p>\n

\"Close-upLeather<\/p>\n

\"SpoolsLinen thread<\/p>\n

\"Jean-Fran\u00e7oisJean-Fran\u00e7ois Lefort <\/p>\n

\"HandsHandmade<\/p>\n

Herm\u00e8s is not a newcomer to the Haute-Vienne: the brand had been partnering the prestigious 1919 Glove-making Cooperative since 1981 (it bought the company in the late 1990s), making gloves in materials such as kidskin and alligator for its collections. Back then Herm\u00e8s\u2019 glovers worked in a small house in the centre of town. The recent significant investment here is part of a new strategy: Herm\u00e8s is in the process of setting up regional clusters all over France.<\/p>\n

These groups of workshops are home to the master craftsmen who create the signature Kelly and Birkin bags that the company is so famous for, but also educational schemes designed to recruit and train a whole new generation of French talent. \u201cRecently we inaugurated new sites at Val de Reuil in Normandy and another in H\u00e9ricourt, in the eastern region of Franche-Comt\u00e9,\u201d says Guillaume de Seynes, the executive vice-president of the manufacturing division and equity investments at Herm\u00e8s International. \u201cNow all of Hermes\u2019 leather goods \u2013 some 15 manufacturing locations in total \u2013 are based entirely in France.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s telling that Herm\u00e8s has chosen to invest so heavily in the country, despite its strict labour laws. Though the company made a record net profit last year of \u20ac1bn (a rise of 13 per cent) it is determined not to become a victim of its own success. By investing in a network of specialist regional workshops with slow production values, the group\u2019s 47-year-old chief executive, Axel Dumas, is future-proofing the quality of the brand. While the hundreds of extra jobs are good news for provincial France, the authentic provenance is also a strong selling point in the increasingly competitive luxury market. \u201cThis is a pure French product,\u201d says one Herm\u00e8s employee of five years as she puts the finishing touches (which include a secret signature) to a wallet. \u201cI like to think of the life this wallet might have.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Saint-Junien site is part of a southwest axis that includes the nearby ateliers in Nontron and Montbron (about a 30-minute drive away). The building provides spacious digs for the 50-strong glove-making department but also houses a further 70 artisans to create other leather Herm\u00e8s products. The initial training process takes up to a year and applicants come from all walks of life. \u201cWe recruited a bus driver, a gardener and a social worker,\u201d says Sylvie Trigeaud, a former hairdresser who is one of Herm\u00e8s\u2019 craftsmen-cum-mentors tasked with tutoring new recruits.<\/p>\n

Each trainee is given their own set of tools: a wooden and metal mallet, a large clamp, multiple needles and awls, hot irons and a skiving knife. Part of the training is to learn how to care for, fix and maintain the tools, which they will keep for the length of their careers. \u201cWe even show them how to make certain pieces,\u201d says Trigeaud, who shows us a large knife sharpener crafted in the first weeks of the course. \u201cOne of the first skills is observation \u2013 to watch the gesture.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Herm\u00e8s each artisan works on a single product from beginning to end. There are no production lines. \u201cYou create a product and you are proud of what you\u2019ve done,\u201d says Marylene Bemrose, who was one of an advanced party of artisans to work here and attended the foundation-stone ceremony. Today she is working on a pea-green wallet and will mentor the new recruits in the second phase of their training. \u201cThough Saint-Junien was all about gloves it\u2019s a very good thing to diversify.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, the site still feels part of this glove-centered culture. The ground floor is full of curious hand-shaped tools: a line of main chaude (\u201chot hands\u201d for steaming and shaping the gloves) appears to wave out of the windows, which look out over the river. Next door a derelict factory will soon house the Cit\u00e9 du Cuir de Saint-Junien: a museum and visitors\u2019 centre that will be dedicated to the leather industry.<\/p>\n

Lefort, who worked at another prestigious Saint-Junien house called Agnelle (where he made long leather gloves for Madonna\u2019s 2012 Super Bowl appearance), has two young apprentices who will eventually take his place. He introduces his 24-year-old charge Pierre Montemezzo, whose great aunt was a glove-maker in the region. \u201cPierre doesn\u2019t yet realise his true value,\u201d says Lefort. \u201cHe has talent. He is continuing a tradition. It starts as a job and then becomes something like a love affair.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Lefort is handling a soft, brown, suede hide like a pastry chef. The glover of 32 years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12919],"tags":[29184,5,4953,15481,37307],"class_list":["post-59925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hermes","tag-craftsmanship","tag-france","tag-hermes","tag-leather-goods","tag-saint-junien"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}