Millau glove-making heritage UNESCO bid, Digi Mart USA News (Millau, France): Gloves worn by Céline Dion, Beyoncé and Madonna, along with a pair of papal gloves designed for Pope Leo XIV with the Parisian embroidery house Maison Duchénoy, highlight the place Millau glove-making has taken in the luxury world. Maison Fabre, a family manufacturer established in Millau in 1924, is among the best-known houses.
Its creations are also associated with the series Emily in Paris, through gloves worn by actress Lily Collins.
Glove-making in Millau and nearby areas depends on a chain of linked skills: sheep farming, the knowledge and processing of hides, and the cutting and sewing of the glove. These gestures are learned and passed from one generation to the next.
Major fashion houses have also shown continued interest in these skills, with Chanel taking a majority stake in the tannery Richard in 2016, after acquiring the glover Causse in 2012.
The effort, carried by the association Sauvegarde du patrimoine culturel immatériel du Pays de Millau since 2019, reached a first milestone in December 2023, when the “glove-making know-how of the Millau region” was entered in the national Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage by the French Ministry of Culture. The next step is a national UNESCO nomination being prepared with other historic French glove-making centers, notably Saint-Junien (Haute-Vienne) and Grenoble, with a working horizon of 2029-2030.
The initial scope already covered six departments of Occitanie: Aveyron, Tarn, Hérault, Lozère, Gard and Aude. The project is supported by the City of Millau, the Millau Grands Causses community of municipalities, the Department, the Occitanie Region and state services.
According to figures released by the Department, the regional ecosystem includes 1,700 sheep farms, about 3,500 farmers and workers in the agropastoral sector, up to 280 businesses involved in processing materials, five heritage glove manufacturers and 18 member companies of the Leather Cluster, seven of which hold the “Living Heritage Company” label. Leather professionals alone generate a combined turnover of 45 million euros and 500 direct jobs.
The sector remains weakened by recruitment difficulties and a lack of specialized training. Olivier Fabre, president of the association and of Maison Fabre, said: “I represent the fourth generation of a family of master glovers.
This heritage commits me: I consider myself a passer-on, a guardian of a family know-how that I received and have the responsibility to transmit.” He added: “Young people are one of my priorities. We must open our workshops to them, let them discover these trades and give them the means to learn and develop them.”
Meanwhile, the “Fabriqué en Aveyron” brand, owned by the Department and run by Aveyron Attractivité Tourisme, will occupy a collective pavilion of more than 200 square meters at stand O58. Eighteen labeled companies will be gathered there, with four others located elsewhere in the fair.
Agri-food, leather goods, gloves, cutlery, footwear, woodwork, craft brewing and local products will be represented.
Exhibitors include Maison Fabre (Millau), Aubrac Bottier (Saint-Côme-d’Olt), Equ’Intense (Laissac), Max Capdebarthes (Sauveterre-de-Rouergue), Le Sac du Berger (Marnhagues-et-Latour), Roquefort Carles and Roquefort Société (Roquefort-sur-Soulzon), and the Fromagerie des Cabasses (Verrières). Created in 2010, the brand brings together 661 user companies and about 4,000 labeled products.
Arnaud Viala, president of the Aveyron Department, said: “With 22 labeled companies gathered at the Made in France Fair, Aveyron shows that its know-how is not merely a heritage: it is a living economic force that innovates, creates value and makes our territories shine.”
The fair runs Thursday, November 12 through Sunday, November 15, 2026. Hours are 10 a.m.
to 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 10 a.m.
to 6 p.m. Sunday.
It takes place at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, hall 7.2, in the “Fabriqué en Aveyron” pavilion, stand O58. Admission is free with online pre-registration; otherwise it costs 10 euros on site, refunded on the first purchase.
