La Redoute

Roubaix, 1837. That is the year in which the first page of the extraordinary adventure of La Redoute begins. Joseph Pollet, son of a rural family, moved to the capital of the French wool region with his wife and kids. Son of labourers who were already textile manufacturers, Joseph opened the first worsted spinning mill, inventing a number of processes and winning several prizes. They say that he reconciled ‘variety, good taste and low prices’. Do we not recognise the virtues of this business 170 years later?