Machine-woven tulle fabric was first created in Nottingham. In those days Britain took great pains to protect its industries; anyone caught exporting production equipment was sentenced to death. To circumvent the strict requirements of British law, loom components were  smuggled out of the country to be reassembled on French soil.

In 1838 English mechanical engineer Samuel Fergusson perfected the most important and useful invention for the development of machine-woven lace: he adapted the system created by Joseph-Marie Jacquard from Lyon to a lace machine.

Since then, it has been possible to make perfect imitations of bobbin lace and to diversify its production almost infinitely by using a wider variety of patterns.

This initiated the real development of the lace industry in Calais, which would gradually gain ascendancy in France and the rest of the world despite the installation of lace machines in other cities. The apogee of the lace industry in Calais is situated in the 25 years prior to the First World War, when orders came in from all around the globe. The factory then numbered 2,700 looms and employed 30,000 people.

Nowadays, lace from Calais still has the same delicacy and elegance as in the past. Moreover, among its enthusiasts are famous designers such as Sonia Rykiel, Christian Dior, Calvin Klein, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Emanuel Ungaro, Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix and Chantal Thomass, patroness of the International City of Lace and Fashion, who use it to create clothing or lingerie lines. Calais lace can also be found in Chantelle or Aubade…