The Bite Magazine - Spring 2016 - Issue 15

Yves Delorme The Linen Road Jada Brookes discovers Yves Delorme’s SS16 collection of home bedding and accessories that embrace the pleasures of a glorious summer. T he history behind Yves Delorme goes well beyond the name. It was in 1845 that Ernestine Fremaux and her husband founded a linen weaving mill near Lille, in the heart of the French textile industry. When a fire broke out and destroyed all of the buildings in 1867, Ernestine was able to re-build the mills through the help of her nephew Paul who had just joined the company.The business developed over the next few decades and a second company was founded for cotton weaving. In the 1920s, the principle production of the Fremaux business was the man- ufacturing of cotton and linen threads, fabrics for sheets, jac- quards and fabrics for the clothing industry. In the mid-1930s, the factories attained full capacity in terms of production. However, World War II had a major effect on the textile industry in the north of France. The majority of the villages and towns were occupied and the factories emptied of their machin- ery. However, Paul Fremaux managed to evacuate a portion of the materials to a nearby town where he founded a new company for weaving jacquards and fabrics for mattresses. When Dominique Fremaux, the son of Francis became President of the Group, he decided to go into the home linens market. He joined forces with Yves Delorme, a talented stylist of home décor, and added bath linen to the line of Fermaux products with the acquisition of the Delorme brand in 1989. The first Yves Delorme stores were opened simul- taneously in France and the United States in 1993. Two years later, there were 45 stores and today there are 450. Last year, Yves Delorme celebrated 170 years of textile production and invited the public to share in their journey by organising a road trip around Europe called “The Linen Road”. An echo of the Silk Road, it tells the story of those who dreamt of far-away lands, of adventurers in search for excellence and who, ages ago, wandered along these roads in search of the ultimate fabric. It was an opportunity to pay honour bitelifestyle