For over 145 years, Fonty has been making quality wool yarns for its customers thanks to its know-how passed down from generation to generation, and that speaks to us at C'est du Joly! 

When we were looking for a partner to expand our wool selection for our second store, we decided to go down to Creuse to discover the wonders offered by Fonty and especially to learn about the know-how and values of this beautiful French company.

We were able to:

- visiting the spinning mill,

- meeting Alain, Christine, Corinne, and all the employees who work every day to offer high-quality products in the dyeing, spinning, winding workshops,...

- asking all the questions we had

- confirming that Fonty's values matched well with the values of C'est du Joly.

After this visit, the hardest part was yet to come... choosing 😂 from the entire range of wools and colors offered! 

But first, I'll take you on a discovery of Fonty! 

Let's go!

History

Founded in 1880 on the banks of the Cher, a few kilometers from its sources in the heart of the Combrailles in Creuse, a traditional land of farming and textile industry, Filature Fonty is one of the treasures of local heritage, or even more, of French heritage! 

The spinning mill is located in what is called the "diagonale du vide" in France and creates local life and employment, which I find very important. 

Certified as an Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant (EPV) in 2017, with the label renewed in 2022, this traditional manufacturer has been preserving exceptional know-how for over 145 years, passed down from generation to generation. Fonty has been committed to guaranteeing and perfecting over the years:

- original processes,

- specialized skills based on expertise but also feedback from workers and users
- refined production gestures and processes combined with a range of traditional machines that the team maintains, renovates, and gradually completes, reflecting the historical importance of the regional textile industry. 

Filature Fonty is an active member of the Lainamac association. Its goal is to promote and develop the wool industry of the Massif Central.

I'm sharing with you the presentation video of Benît de Larouzière, the head of the spinning mill, who explains it very well. The video is a few years old but still relevant. 

Raw materials

Filature Fonty produces high-quality yarns from animal fleeces and natural plant fibers: sheep (mainly Merino breed), Peruvian and Bolivian alpaca, Mongolian yak, Gobi desert camel, mohair goat, French angora rabbit, Indian silk, cashmere, Normandy flax, Asian cotton, Portuguese bamboo… Raw materials are carefully selected. The fleeces come from local or regional farms, but more generally from France, Europe, Central Asia, or wool-producing countries in the Southern Hemisphere.

Like plant fibers, animal fleeces are chosen for their fineness, length, and softness, but also considering their traceability and the environmental issues related to their production or transport.

These materials are processed in Creuse, in the various workshops of the spinning mill, into carded or combed yarn, roving or ribbon. This is done respecting traditional wool spinning processes. 

It is very important to say here that what attracted us to Fonty is not only the quality of the finished products but also their concern to select ethical wools respecting the breeders and the animals producing the wool. No one wants to knit a sweater with wool from an animal that suffered... No one wants to knit a sweater if the breeder cannot feed their children from the fruits of their labor... For Fonty as for C'est du Joly, these values are important, and this shared commitment brought us together. 

Dyeing workshop

Thanks to its efficient dyeing workshop, the Filature Fonty can reproduce or create any color for its yarns: natural or original fleece colors, dyes with natural or synthetic pigments, matte or shiny tones, bright or faded, solid or heathered… 

Over the years, the dyers have built a color library of several hundred thousand shades, noting the pigment dosages, mordants or modifiers used, formulas, and associated processes. It is an endless task because each material reacts differently to dye, so the possibilities are infinite. It is also a work of high precision, very demanding, because the goal is to achieve the exact shade for each dye bath. This research work is always carried out with particular attention to environmental respect.

Fonty is committed to preserving the health of the river network, so no harmful products are discharged into the Cher. All solvents are purified within the spinning mill itself, and that was also very important to us. 

Also, Fonty chose a natural purification station, and we love that! 

Process: how are these wonders created?

The raw fibers that make up the raw material are washed, sorted, beaten, blended, oiled (greased), prepared, and pre-combed.

Then, they are carded on two double-assortment carding lines.
Coming out of the carding machine, they are spun, twisted, assembled, unwound, and put into skeins. 
Finally, the skeins of yarn are washed, degreased, dyed, softened, rinsed, dried, and sprayed.
They are weighed and prepared as cones, skeins, bobbins, or balls.
The final step: they are labeled, packaged in bags, and stored before being shipped, especially to our shop! 

But let’s let Alain, Guillaume, and Christine talk about their work. 

Besides, it was really Christine who prepared our wool order, thank you Christine!

Why did we choose to work with Fonty?

We were looking for a quality wool supplier with whom we could create a true connection in our values. We searched and made the 8-hour drive to visit the Fonty spinning mill and meet the teams, and we were not disappointed!

What shared values were so important to us?

Ecology:
We wanted the spinning mill to follow an eco-responsible approach: making yarns while respecting the environment and caring about what we leave to future generations.
Fonty pursues a resolutely eco-conscious, eco-responsible approach focused on sustainable and innovative development, such as with its natural purification station. 

Exceptional quality at a fair price:

We wanted a beautiful product, a quality product, one that our customers will enjoy working with... because you don’t spend dozens of hours on a sweater for it to look ugly!  So, we wanted a flawless product with a good quality/price ratio which is also a differentiating criterion of C'est du Joly.   

A societal value and integration into the local environment, job creation:

At C'est du Joly as at Fonty we value salaried employment; that means it is important for us to be part of society, to create jobs that guarantee people a decent salary allowing them to live from their work but also enabling them to put all their skills at the service of creating products/services that bring an improvement to society as a whole.  At Fonty as at C'est du Joly we do not want to be involved in the exploitation of volunteers, interns, or independent contractors paid peanuts.  It is really important for us and Fonty. 

Order and installation of our wools

We chose from the wide range of types of wools and colors from Fonty and placed an order in July to be sure to receive all these wonders for the opening of the Woluwe store. 

I admit I spent days with the catalog open and the wool samples entrusted by Corinne and Christine on the dining table... to create a coherent collection in terms of yarn thickness, wool composition, colors... so that each of our customers can find their happiness! 

I am quite proud of my selection! 

The wools are so beautiful, soft... 

So find:

- BB merino (the basics!)

- Alpaca 

- Ombelle (the mohair 😍)

- Pole,

- Polaire,

- Felletin,

- Saperlipopette (it looks like a little cloud of softness) 

- Super Tweed and its little colored dots also in wool and not acrylic, thank you Fonty!

- Moustache

- Gengis Khan 2 and 3 (the famous yak down)

- ...

Friends who knit, crochet, weave, and all other friends of yarn; I invite you to discover this magnificent brand and collection! 

Attention, Fonty wool is only available at the Woluwe Saint Lambert store located at 328 avenue Georges Henri and yes, our Ixelles store is too small to accommodate such a collection 😅

So let's meet in Woluwe to discover it!

Get your knitting needles and crochet hooks ready!

See you soon 

Eugénie