Caudry Nord, Hauts-de-France
A town in a textile region known for its batiste in the Middle Ages, Caudry received its first Leavers looms in the 19th century. Today, Caudry produces high-quality “Calais lace” intended for Haute Couture houses such as Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Christian Lacroix, or Karl Lagerfeld, who are all enchanted by its lace.
Dentelle de Caudry © Pascal Auvé
Have you ever heard about Caudry in the Cambrai region? No, yet if Alexander McQueen, the English designer, creator of Kate Middleton's wedding dress for her wedding to Prince William in 2011, turned to the Caudry worshops for the creation of this princely model, it was not for nothing! In the heart of the Cambrai region, Caudry is one of the last major lace-making poles in France. It all began around 1840 when lace-making made its appearance in Caudry. Today, the town has 6 lace-making companies united under a common label "la dentelle de Calais-Caudry". Within them, there are as many trades and little hands as there are techniques and gestures preciously preserved. In these Caudresian factories, modernity and ancestral know-how are combined to create this noble material which is lace. A lace like no other, which is woven, not knitted, a true guarantee of quality. Lace dresses and embroidered lace - a local specificity - are thus created and made either with a spindle or on active Leavers looms from the 19th century, a witness to a living industrial heritage that is passed on from generation to generation.