Spinning linen is a know-how that had disappeared in France since 1995, with the closure of the last company in Pas-de-Calais. Suffice to say that the relocation of a spinning mill to Saint-Martin-du-Tilleul, in the Eure, is an event. “La French Spinning, it is the link that was missing to have complete traceability and 100% made in France on linen” explains Karim Behlouli, Managing Director of NatUp Fibres.
La French Filature enables the entire sector to relocate know-how to France – Karim Behlouli
– Laurent Philippot
There has indeed been another spinning mill in France since 2020, in the Haut-Rhin, but which manufactures dry flax, while in Saint-Martin-du-Tilleul, it is wet flaxwith which “we will mainly make ready-to-wear, accessories or household linen, handkerchiefs, sheets or towels” details Karim Behlouli.
If every Frenchman bought a shirt or a pair of socks produced in France, that’s 4,000 jobs created – Karim Behlouli
Normandy is the world leader in flax production, but until now, 80% of the production went to Asia to be spun there and the rest to Eastern Europe. This relocation to Eure is therefore good news for the environmental and societal impact.
– Laurent Philippot
Once the linen is in the reels, it is time for the transformation with dyeing, weaving “in the form of shirts, trousers or sheets”, or knitting T-shirts. The yarn is for example sold to the Nordiste Lemaitre Demeestre.
A hundred kilos of linen thread have already left the European spinning mill for a planned production of 250 tons per yearat cruising speed.
– Laurent Philippot
More than 4 million euros invested
NatUp issued a check for 4.4 million euros and received support from the State via France Relance and from the Normandy Region through the sector future investment plan: one million each, including 500,000 euros in repayable advance . A financial contribution that enabled French Filature to equip itself, in particular with a winder, qualified as “war machine” by Karim Behlouli, worthy of best advanced technologies : “It is entirely automated, completely robotized, with a certain intelligence to pick up the faults in the yarn and purify them”.
For its equipment, Nat Up has favored European machines when possible, for example the oven and the winder, bought in Germany.
– Laurent Philippot
For the roving frame and spinning machines, “there was no machine ready in France but we know that there are French manufacturers who are taking up this file and who are in the process of development“says Karim Behlouli.
– Laurent Philippot
A monitor will soon arrive on the site _ “for a few weeks to train the staff” shighlights the director of the Saint-Martin linière and manager of the French Filature, Serge Nowaczyk, delighted to find his first love: “I got my hands dirty to be able to finish assembling the machines, adjusting them, and showing the first steps to be taken to the staff_” says the former spinner. The 27 employees of the combing plant are being trained. Within two months to two years, 25 jobs will be created à la French Filature and perhaps more if the consumer is seduced by this 100% made in France linen.