A LIVING HERITAGE IN MOTION - Le Minor

1922 – 2022, AN INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE IN MOTION

Four women will shape the history of this House. Four founding figures who, in spite of the hardships facing women, in spite of war, in spite of tragedy, will carry Le Minor's colors high.

Le Minor is, at its core, several stories — above all, the story of knitwear. To discover the House is to discover the history of the knit. Knitting has intertwined with the centuries, mechanized early, industrialized by the 18th century, and was taught everywhere by the 19th. It remained, however, confined to undergarments and hats. In 1913, Gabrielle Chanel, drawn to its comfort and drape, began producing it on a large scale. Knitwear took flight.

Does the history of this company, then, mirror that of French knitwear in the 20th century? Not entirely. Over the years, like many other knitwear companies, Le Minor produced utilitarian knitwear, ready-to-wear knitwear, and premium knitwear. It automated, it exported — but unlike the others, it never relocated. This singularity is both its greatest strength and its greatest vulnerability today. The vulnerability of a French industrial heritage; the strength of a preserved know-how.

The story of Le Minor is also told through its iconic pieces: the sailor sweater, the commando sweater, the sailor shirt, and the legendary kabig... Le Minor is also discovered through its trades, extraordinary crafts for which no school trains anyone today. Dive into the life and history of a manufacturer brand — a truly original positioning in France.

FOUR WOMEN

AT THE ROOTS OF THE COMPANY

Berthe Étui
(1888 Boulogne-sur-mer – 1984 Lorient)
1922 to 1956
34 YEARS IN SERVICE OF THE KNITWEAR TRADE

The company was born in 1922. That year, Berthe Étui founded a knitwear workshop with her husband René Marchand and a business associate, Gaston Bodin, in Brittany. All manner of knitwear articles were knitted and sold wholesale there, notably warm undergarments for seafarers — sardine-packers and fishermen.

In 1937, widowed for ten years, Berthe Étui married her second associate, Gaston Bodin. Nine knitting machines were then in operation. Inventories recorded 800 kg of wool to be knitted, along with shawls, undershirts, socks, gloves, ties, and underpants. Mostly confined to bodywear, production still appeared relatively traditional.

She continued in this way until the 1950s. As was common practice in small textile workshops of the time, home and place of production were one and the same. While some ten knitting machines seemed to be running at full capacity during the 1930s, by 1955 Berthe Étui's activity had considerably declined. She was then nearly 70 years old.

THE BRAND LE MINOR

Marie-Anne Le Minor
(1901 Plonévez-Porzay – 1984 Pont-l'Abbé)
1936 to the 1970s
MORE THAN 35 YEARS IN SERVICE OF THE BRAND

The House that would give its name and renown to the company was founded in Brittany in 1936. Guided by a sharp business sense, tireless standards, an immoderate love of Brittany, an artistic sensibility, and a genuine social conscience, Marie-Anne Le Minor would carry her company from the 1930s through the 1970s, before handing the reins to her two sons.

She started with doll clothes, then multiplied her activities. The house of Le Minor embarked on this beautiful adventure in textile know-how, blending creations, premium ready-to-wear, scarves, banners, household linens, tapestries, traditional costumes... It was, however, through clothing that Le Minor would find its greatest development. In 1947, the embroidered kabig marked the beginning of the House's ready-to-wear era. In the 1960s, the brand began to radiate across French territory and to subcontract for Courrèges and Chanel. Production remained centered primarily on winter collections, particularly wool coats. At the peak of its activity in the 1970s, the house counted more than 550 workers in Brittany.

The kabig, an iconic garment, began to decline in the late 1970s and the situation quickly became catastrophic. In a tense national context, amid a full-blown textile crisis, the company Le Minor filed for bankruptcy in 1980. Workshops closed, nearly all staff were laid off — only the retail boutique in Brittany remained. The House was then bought out by the Corlay family.

GROWING THE COMPANY

Juliette Corlay
(1914 Locmiquélic – 2009 La Limouzinière)
1956 to 1986
30 YEARS IN SERVICE OF THE COMPANY

This new chapter began in the mid-1950s. Out of economic necessity, Juliette Corlay went to trade fairs. She sold retail the articles produced by Berthe Étui. The turning point came in 1956, when she acquired the knitwear workshop. At that moment, only one seamstress, one sewing machine, and one knitting machine remained... A businesswoman, a relentless and hardworking woman, she would be the one to establish the company and industrialize production.

During this period, the company produced modest everyday and Sunday wear: cardigans and round-neck sweaters, notably.

Demand exploded and the company had to expand; work began in 1963 in Brittany. Juliette Corlay won the French Army contract in the 1970s. As knitwear activity was concentrated on winter goods, securing this contract made it possible to break out of that seasonality and maintain high output year-round. The establishment was then thriving, full of promise, and grew extensively through the 1980s — when Juliette Corlay's eldest son took over. Despite somewhat erratic management, it was he who went on to acquire the House Le Minor in 1982. While this acquisition allowed the company to move upmarket and gain a name and reputation, labor strikes, governance shortcomings, and a fraught national textile climate ultimately led to another insolvency filing.

THE BIRTH OF A HERITAGE

Marie-Christine Grammatico
(1954 Tunis)
1986 to 2018
32 YEARS IN SERVICE OF LE MINOR

Le Minor was acquired in 1987 by Jean-Luc Grammatico, a man passionate about the trade. The tragedy that would mark the company for the decades ahead struck immediately. He passed away fifteen days after the acquisition. His sister, Marie-Christine, dropped everything to take over the establishment. She was joined by Émile, the youngest of the siblings. In memory of her brother, she would devote every day of her life to it, for 32 years.

This period would be defined in France by the offshoring of knitwear production. All of it? No — Marie-Christine would not allow this know-how to slip beyond her control. Le Minor would never relocate.

This period would prove remarkably creative, and elevated the core identity of the House: sweaters and sailor shirts. Marie-Christine Grammatico developed the brand spectacularly in Japan in the late 1980s, effectively saving the company. Unfortunately, in 2010, after more than 40 years of partnership, the French Navy contract disappeared — no manufacturer producing in France was able to adequately fulfill it. By 2018, 85% of production was exported to Japan, with the remaining 15% going to white-label orders or a handful of coastal boutiques.

Marie-Christine Grammatico delegated nothing — she was simultaneously CEO, workshop director, sales manager, and stylist. She delivered an extraordinary concentration of know-how, practically a company museum.

KNITTING

BEHIND A KNITTED GARMENT LIES AN ENTIRE SERIES OF STEPS, FROM YARN PRODUCTION TO PATTERN AND GRADING, FROM CUTTING TO ASSEMBLY, FROM FINISHING TO RETAIL.

Knitting is a mechanical process that involves interlinking yarns using a series of needles. Though the yarns used — wool or cotton — are never elastic themselves, the resulting fabric is always supple and stretchy.

The House has knitted wool since its very beginning. The machines are flat-bed; they produce panels. Cotton knitting only arrived in the 1970s, bringing with it the imposing circular machines. The machines have never stopped. Today, ten flat-bed looms and three circular ones work in concert. While knitwear technicians once numbered up to fifteen during the 1970s, the team has shrunk considerably in recent years due to lack of training. The last technical school closed in the 2000s. The last knitter at the House has now been supported for two years by two other professionals trained in-house, with the backing of the French Textile and Apparel Institute, the employment agency, and the Brittany Region.

Upstream from the knitting itself, the technician programs the machines; he transforms the pattern designer's drawings into a number of knit stitches, into a type of stitch pattern, or into an assembly of motifs. Then comes the production of the knit — the most delicate step. The noise is relentless. The yarns are taut, the bobbins unwind, the machines clatter — yet the knitter watches, moves, adjusts, replaces, repairs, relaunches, monitors... A singular and demanding craft, in which the technician breathes life into a noble material.

CUTTING AND GARMENT ASSEMBLY — THE CRITICAL STEPS

The Maison controls its entire production chain, from knitting to assembly. Don't be fooled — the stages are numerous and require exceptional expertise, constantly adapting to each item, each material, each new technical challenge.

After the knitting of the fabric comes what is, in a sense, the most delicate stage: the cutting. Fabric is not easy to cut. It moves, it stretches — it might as well be alive. If you add to the difficulty of working with knit the challenge of aligning the stripes, you have one of the most demanding and intricate cutting processes, always done by hand at Le Minor. Halfway between craft and industry, this is where the Maison stands. The pieces thus cut are then sent on to the bustling and vibrant assembly line.

Making up is a long process. Beyond the most well-known stitch — the lockstitch — the overlock joins the sides and closes the sleeves, all while matching the stripes. The work is done by layering two pieces of fabric. If the underside is not visible, the stripes must still match! Dexterity and experience are essential at every stage, as is the pressing and ironing, carried out piece by piece to ensure a perfect finish. Until 2018, all these operations were organised in a rather Taylorist manner: specialisation, repetition, output. Today, in the interest of smoother workflow and greater job satisfaction, each operator is fully multi-skilled. Since the training programmes for these trades no longer exist externally, all training is done in-house. When the machines are running at full speed — with a gentle hum, thanks to the entirely modernised assembly floor overhauled since 2018 — it is the skilled hands of the technicians that adjust everything to the millimetre: aligning the stripes, positioning the labels, assembling the pieces, re-stitching — repairing a flaw with a needle or removing a thread caught in the fabric with tweezers... And the sharp eye of the quality controllers, who spot everything in a matter of seconds. The tiniest misalignment, and it's back to the machines. The Maison is uncompromising.

LE MINOR — A KNITWEAR COMPANY?

Interestingly, the word "bonneterie" refers to the manufacturing of knitted goods. This type of production has been documented in France for nearly 600 years.

This independent activity provided supplementary income for many modest families. The trade organised itself around guilds and corporations from the 16th century onwards, and the profession of "bonnetier" (hosier/knitter) found its name. By the 18th century, this proto-industry was thriving, producing mainly bonnets (caps). The term "bonneterie" became established and has never been displaced since. It now describes the knitting of clothing items in the broadest sense. The materials knitted vary according to the period. One of the most common stitches today is perhaps jersey — that fine knit used mainly in the making of T-shirts.

KEY DATES

  • Invention of the knitting machine in 1589 in England, later imported by Henri IV

  • Late 18th century: spread of knitting looms throughout France, first manufacturing plants

  • Mid-19th century: appearance of circular looms

Production therefore became mechanised very early on. From 1850 onwards, large knitwear factories were fairly numerous and highly mechanised. They have endured to this day, and although the making of bonnets remains an accessory trade, these companies are still called bonneteries.

LE MINOR AND KNITWEAR

While the Maison — entirely dedicated to knitwear — bore the names of its founders until the 1960s ("Bodin et Marchand", "Bodin et Compagnie", "Veuve Marchand et Compagnie"), it adopted the name "Tricotage mécanique Lorientais" from 1956, then "Manufacture de Bonneterie Lorientaise" or MBL, from 1963.

It acquired the Pont-l'Abbé-based Le Minor Maison in 1982 and thus became "Le Minor bonneterie". It is worth noting that from that point on, the Le Minor Maison combined two complementary techniques: that of MBL, rooted in knitwear, and that of Le Minor, which had traditionally worked with wool cloth.

THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD "CHANDAIL" — MYTH OR REALITY?

The term first appeared at the very end of the 19th century. Breton market gardeners, recognisable by their thick woollen knit — the gamesou they wore every day — used to make their way to the markets, and in particular to the Les Halles market in Paris, to sell garlic. To make themselves noticed in that vast space, they would cry out repeatedly: "garlic sellers — garlic sellers! Who wants garlic?" By contraction, Parisians began referring to these vendors with the nickname "chandail"... and by extension, the woollen garment they invariably wore eventually adopted the name itself!

THE COMPANY TODAY

After 96 years at the helm of the company, the women handed over to Sylvain Flet and Jérôme Permingeat. This story belongs to them too — and they intend to give it wings.

Captivated by the fact that an industry capable of mastering its entire production process within its own workshops still existed on French soil, the two collaborators acquired the Maison in 2018. Energy and determination were quickly rolled up their sleeves. Property and equipment investments were deployed, and the Guidel site found a new lease of life. The number of employees went from 23 to 66, and the average age halved. Training programmes no longer exist externally? The Maison trains in-house. The brand had been absent from the market for years? It redeployed into premium boutiques in Paris and naturally in Brittany as well. Challenges were met one after another.

A French ready-to-wear manufacturer in marine-inspired knitwear, the Maison's positioning is clear. On one side, the timeless, the iconic, the mythic; on the other, textured knits and exclusive designs. French textile is making a comeback. The clientele is there, and it wholeheartedly embraces traceable, durable knitwear.

The economic model has been found, the expertise secured, and the brand reinstated in its premium segment. In a society in the midst of transformation, this century-old company has succeeded in forging a bold present and a solid future.

 

 

ZI des 5 chemins · 10 rue Nicolas Appert · 56520 Guidel leminor.fr · contact@leminor.fr

+33 (0) 2 97 65 97 67