Saint André de la Marche !
You can't make this up: the Museum of the Shoe Industry is located in Saint-André de la Marche!
In 1900, it was an abbot who gave birth to the idea of creating a shoe factory, and even financed this project a little, led by Mr. Morinière.
The beginnings, of course, are not very simple, but the success coming, a new workshop is created, with this same Mr. Morinière joined by Mr. Ripoche whose former status of farmhand does not seem to be a brake to his vocation of entrepreneur!
After various mergers and separations between the two men, the Ripoche company employed 110 people in 1962!
At the time, "the bosses", as they used to say, were very involved in the lives of their employees, housing, soccer, theater, flower festival floats, etc., and it was sometimes the boss's car that drove a woman who was about to give birth to a baby to the next town!
Nowadays, the whole thing would be castigated under the name of "paternalism", but this common attitude at the time is described, with a certain sympathy, by an "old hand" in the video at the bottom of the article.
The company had its ups and downs, continued to grow, but finally disappeared in 1990. In 1995, a part of the premises was bought by the municipality, and the Museum of Shoe Trades settled there, supported by the association of the Friends of the Shoe Museum.
A particularly unusual, rich and interesting visit
You will discover an incredible collection of a hundred machines, most of which are in working order, and more than 3000 shoes!
These collections are classified by theme and by era, and the stages of shoe manufacturing are presented with six interactive terminals.
The association also organizes a number of activities including exhibitions such as, for example, "the shoe enters the scene", concerning the role of the shoe, as an element of costume, in the development of a character. We see for example the shoe of the avatars, the boot worn by Jean Dujardin for the character of Lucky Luke, or the shoes of French-cancan!
Museum of the Trades of the Shoe
6, rue Saint Paul
49450 Sèvremoine
Phone : 02 41 46 35 65
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
(free version)
Click on the image
