Let’s meet Jean-Baptiste Drachkovitch (on the right), co-director of Langlois-Martin, the last sequin manufacturer in France, alongside Pascal Bernard since 2010. The business was founded in 1919 and left the Paris area in September 2018 for Saint-Ouen-sur-Iton in Orne. The factory opened its doors to visitors for the first time as part of the European Heritage Days.
What is Langlois-Martin?
We’re the last sequin manufacturer in France. Our products are used for fashion, embroidery and textiles in prêt-à-porter and haute couture. Although Langlois-Martin was founded in 1919, our expertise dates back to 1869 as our techniques and our oldest tools come from that time. Other businesses were bought out, we’re the only ones left. We have been approved as an EPV business (Living Heritage Company) since 2007.
What makes Langlois-Martin unique as the last sequin factory using cellulose acetate?
We recuperated almost all the old equipment from other businesses that were bought out. That means we have a one-of-a-kind collection of over 5000 different flat or raised shapes. Since these patterns have been used at least once in haute couture designs in the last century, all our models are in the archives of French and overseas embroiderers and we can make them to order. We’re also the last brand to provide small quantities of products that are colour matched based on a piece of fabric, paper or vintage colour. Also, when you put together the 5000 shapes, 1600 colours and different stamps, we can provide up to 25 million items. We’re the last factory in the world to make products in cellulose acetate, i.e. “plastic” made from recyclable and recycled wood or cotton fibres, in the same sizes. It comes in very handy because our old equipment prefers this super-soft material. Plus it’s better for the environment!
We're the last sequin manufacturer in France (…) and the only one in the world to make cellulose acetate sequins.
Langlois-Martin works with top embroiderers across France, Italy, Spain, and New York
We work for the five biggest embroiderers in France as well as embroidery companies in Italy, Spain and New York.
We work for the five biggest embroiderers in France as well as embroidery companies in Italy, Spain and New York. With the boom in manufacturing studios overseas in the 2000s, luxury ready-to-wear brands began coming to us to buy materials before distributing them to outsourced embroiderers, often overseas. We also have small workshops and members of the public who have got into embroidery and use our wholesale website:
What made you come to Normandy 3 years ago?
Our Noisy-le-Sec site was starting to deteriorate and we didn’t own the building. We wanted to own a property with enough space for our production and heritage features to elevate the expertise involved in our trade. We fell for a big 18th century manor near L’Aigle which had lots of structural features we could work with. The location is perfect: L’Aigle is only 1 hr 15 from Paris which is very convenient for our foreign customers.
No regrets?
Absolutely not! We’re glad we left the Paris area: we have more space, a different environment and our customers love coming to Normandy and getting away from Paris when they come to visit us. Since there’s less tax burden here, we managed to survive the pandemic… We would have had to make some tough decisions if we’d stayed in Paris.
It’s also better for our staff: our employees have a much nicer place to live and work in… 800m2 for 6 people isn’t the same as our cramped offices in Paris.
One of the reasons we chose Normandy was to open a museum, like Bohin.
What’s in the pipeline?
One of the reasons we chose Normandy was to open a museum, like Bohin. We’ve put the museum on stand-by for now given the pandemic, but it’s still on the to-do list. We’re just waiting for business to pick up again, especially for our customers.
That’s another reason why we decided to open the factory to visitors for the European Heritage Days. We want to celebrate our expertise and showcase it to the general public. It’s also an opportunity for us to present the environmental aspect of our factory and our company’s artisan values.
Key dates
- 1919: Mr. Saint-Martin and Mr. Langlois took over the sequin factory run by Charles Averseng since 1901
- 1935: Marcel Langlois joined forces with his sister-in-law, Renée Martin, and the company was renamed Langlois-Martin
- 1947: There were only 10 sequin factories in France
- 1961: Langlois-Martin SARL (LLC) was founded
- 1971: Jean Langlois came on board 10 years after Langlois-Martin SARL (LLC) was founded
- 1976: Langlois-Martin bought out Henri Rech and Alexandre Lecoq, some of the last sequin factories
- 1977: Pierre and Anne Langlois joined their brother and father respectively at the company
- 2001: Langlois-Martin bought out Seler to become the last sequin factory in France
- 2010: Langlois-Martin was bought out by SAS D.Thomas, managed by Jean-Baptiste Drachkovitch, a former embroiderer and his partner Pascal Bernard
- 2018: The business relocated to Orne
Thematics
