• The Nouvelles grisettes opened their doors to the general public this weekend, in the former halles Sud de France in Montpellier (Hérault)

  • They were born from the Covid-19 crisis, when seamstresses united their skills to make masks that France was sorely lacking.

  • The experience made them want to go further by gathering around local creators to highlight the short circuit, around a concept of participatory entrepreneurship.

Their beautiful story was born during the first confinement, when France knew the shortage of masks. “Like everywhere in France, seamstresses have decided to get together to try to help,” explains Richard Préau. "We realized that there was no more stock, no more workshop, in France, which is supposed to be the fashion capital of the world," recalls the director of Nouvelles grisettes.

The creator and manager of the Grand Travers brand knows this environment perfectly.

With Muriel Fournier, Caroline Bouvier and Roger-Yannick Chartier, they decided to go beyond the emergency linked to the protection of the population.

“If we knew how to make masks, we knew how to do other things.

We decided to think bigger and develop our workshop, but also to imagine a place where we could highlight the creators ”.

In the old South of France market halls

The new grisettes were born, in reference to the grisettes of the 19th century, the nickname given to female textile workers. They are deeply attached to their associative and cooperative status, and are much more than a collective of cutters. They are installed in the former South of France halls (next to the exhibition center), in Pérols, near Montpellier. Premises which are both a 250 m² clothing workshop welcoming all the craftsmen, de facto members of the association, but also - on the store side - a place of exhibition and sale of clothing, accessories or linen. house made by forty designers. A restaurant brings them to life outside of standard store opening hours.

“Consumers and brands aspire to find and offer more and more meaningful, local and traceable products,” explains Carole Delga, president (PS) of the Occitanie region, the initiative's first supporter.

The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated this trend of consumption in favor of short circuits that I have been defending for several years in Occitania with in particular the call to consume "In my area" launched at the end of 2019 ".

"A qualitative place, carrying meaning"

Workshops designed to learn (for the general public) or improve (for professionals) and parades complete the desire of its designers to make it both a resource place and an event venue.

"We wanted it to be a high-quality place, meaningful to both creators and consumers, that everyone can find their way there," recalls Richard Préau.

About 500 people gathered this weekend for the opening of this atypical place, called to quickly find its audience.

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  • Style

  • Languedoc-Roussillon

  • Textile

  • Society

  • Montpellier