Missègle

Missègle began in 1983, when Myriam Joly, a newly graduated agricultural engineer then 26 years old, started a small farm in the Tarn raising Angora goats imported from Texas for their mohair fleece. Rather than processing the fiber herself, she initially had a neighboring knitting workshop in Burlats spin and knit it into socks. In 2007, when that workshop faced closure, Joly bought it outright specifically to save the ten jobs there, shifting her business from goat farming to running the knitting operation directly - turning Missègle from a farm-with-a-supplier into a vertically integrated textile maker. The atelier, at 33 Chemin de Montplaisir in Burlats near Castres, has now operated for close to four decades, working natural fibers including mohair, merino wool, yak down, camel down, organic cotton and silk into socks, sweaters, scarves and gloves; socks alone account for close to half of sales. Everything is knitted on site in the Tarn rather than outsourced, a point the company markets explicitly as its "Made in France" claim. Joly remains involved in the business, which passed operational leadership to her son Gaëtan as the company grew past €10 million in annual revenue.