MTM: 80 years of savoir-faire for French head coverings
At the gateway to the Pyrenees, in Billère, a company preserves a unique savoir-faire: that of top-of-the-range, luxury hair styling and head accessories. Manufacture Textile Méridionale, known as MTM, has just celebrated its 80th anniversary. Behind its walls, the memory of traditional headwear meets contemporary design.
François Lassalle, who took over the company in 2024 alongside his wife Laurence, takes a fresh look at this iconic home. With no fashion background, this former strategy expert is breathing new life into a workshop unique in France, where artisanal and industrial tradition, exceptional production, the demands of luxury and international ambitions are intertwined.
A history in motion
François Lassalle, Chairman of MTM, Catherine Quief, former executive and Laurence Lassalle, Managing Director.">Founded officially in 1945, but in reality even older, Manufacture Textile Méridionale was for a long time the largest Béarn and French hat and headgear factory. It was founded in Bayonne, before moving to Jurançon. "Historically, MTM produced almost exclusively flat caps for men, which worked very well: up to 140 people worked in the workshop", recalls François Lassalle.
Over the decades, the company has undergone several shifts. In the 1990s, an attempt to relocate failed, before in 2002 Catherine Quief took over the company with just twelve of the most skilled employees. She gave the name Taffta to the company's own brand, specializing in women's hairstyling, all the while initiating several contract manufacturer collaborations with the greatest luxury houses.
"We bought MTM in 2024 with a long accompaniment. Catherine is staying with us for at least three years to pass on her savoir-faire. We come from a different world, so we wanted a smooth, formative transition", confides François Lassalle. Today, MTM's business is structured around four segments: fashion for major brands, MTM's own brand distributed in numerous boutiques in France and internationally, a more technical public market and a historic trading arm with central purchasing agencies.
The cut and sew at the heart of this rare savoir-faire
Photo credits : ©Manufacture Textile Méridionale">At MTM, "anything that sits above the shoulders can be imagined and made by us", says François Lassalle. From traditional sailor caps to the most creative headbands, the workshop has developed a savoir-faire unique in France, thanks to a high-performance product development unit and qualified female technicians."There are three product categories that require the most complex gestures in garment making: shoes, ladies' underwear... and hats, because the slightest millimeter changes everything", testifies François Lassalle.
The heart of the professions is cut and sew, an art where every detail counts. The company produces between 25,000 and 30,000 pieces a year, able to combine technical materials (anti-UV membranes, waterproof fabrics) with regional designs in Pyrenean wool. For some customers, hand stitch finishing is used: "We have five expert hand stitchers. It's not systematic because it's time-consuming and costly, but essential for certain luxury designs."
The garment making process is meticulous. After cutting and assembly comes the crucial pampering stage, when the hat is molded to its final shape and precisely controlled. Specific molds can even be dedicated to a brand, guaranteeing its own identity and irreproachable quality.
To preserve and pass on this savoir-faire, training is essential in this workshop: "it takes nine months after a bac pro couture to master these gestures. There are no longer any schools offering training in millinery. Everything is done in-house. We anticipate retirements to preserve our techniques and knowledge", insists François Lassalle. Today, 36 employees make up the team, most of them women, with a Product development unit, two pattern makers and partnerships with local high schools to host interns and work-study students.
Towards a sustainable, international future
Photo credits : ©Manufacture Textile Méridionale">If François Lassalle came to millinery, it was to "buy a company with a product I can touch, a savoir-faire I can develop". Today, he is driving a new dynamic, combining CSR, innovation and international ambitions.
On the environmental front, MTM is now highlighting what it used to do discreetly: automatic cutting to reduce offcuts, GOTS-certified materials, mulesing-free wool, upcycling collection capsules, recovery of fabrics at the end of the collection. "MTM has always done things well, but we were shy. Today, we value these commitments", explains the executive.
The future is also taking shape beyond our borders. "The big strategy is to develop the international dimension, whether with luxury brands, distributors or foreign agents. Abroad, "Made in France" is a real calling card". Yet the manager is lucid: the high-end headwear market is demanding, and the economic context uncertain even if the signals seem more positive.
Manufacture Textile Méridionale remains an irreplaceable player, able to go from "sketch scribbled at three o'clock in the morning by a designer"to a piece ready for a catwalk show. As François Lassalle sums up: "the customer pushes us to outdo ourselves, to find solutions to develop unique products. It's this demand that drives us forward." MTM thus continues to combine past and future, ancestral savoir-faire and contemporary adaptation. A workshop where the accessory becomes the ultimate signature of a silhouette.
Discover the Manufacture Textile Méridionale.
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