Merino wool from Arles
Our creations are fashioned from Arles merino wool, a noble local fiber. With its thermo-regulating properties, softness and 21-micron fineness, merino wool rivals luxury fibers like cashmere. From shearing to knitting, each stage of processing is designed to honor this raw material and create an exceptional product. Our products are made with wool processed in France, Belgium and Italy, and knitted in Mayenne. We use Oeko-Tex certified dyes.
Arles Merino wool, the softest in Europe.
Creating value for sheep breeders
Our approach aims to support the French wool industry by offering breeders an additional income through the valorization of their wool and by promoting better breeding techniques. By working with us, breeders become key players in the value chain, contributing to the creation of exceptional products.Since June 2023, we have been raising a flock of 25 sheep in the Chevreuse Valley.
We've created a veritable living laboratory with our flock, which will expand again next year with new rams from Europe and beyond. These sheep, with their exceptionally fine wool (up to 16 microns!), are a key asset in competing with world standards.
The Studio Arcadie brand is supported by www.merinosfrance.com
Because Studio Arcadie is committed to sustainability and transparency, we invite you to discover our wool journey.
The story of Studio Arcadie begins in the Pays d'Arles, an ancestral breeding ground at the crossroads of the Alps and the Mediterranean. This land is connected to northern Italy, which transforms it, and to northern Spain, from which it draws its wool roots.
It's in this French land that we harvest wool from committed breeders who have been with us and supporting us for many years. Our partner breeders are eager to see this tradition and family know-how of wool production continue.
In fact, it's essential for sheep breeders to know the region, the animal and its environment in order to achieve optimal breeding practices. The Arles region is dry, mountainous and mild in winter, making it ideal for sheep farming. In the warmer months, sheep graze at higher altitudes, where the air is fresher and the grass greener.
Discover our history
Thanks to its heat-regulating properties, softness and 21-micron fineness, merino wool rivals luxury fibers like cashmere.
Annual shearing takes place on the Arles farms in spring. The fleece is sheared with care and respect for the animal, and only the parts with the longest fibers are kept to ensure product quality right from the first stage of the value chain.
This is followed by the sorting phase, an essential stage in wool processing. Here, it's all about getting rid of the unusable material while minimizing waste, and breeders spread the fleece out on large wooden planks so that they can sort it meticulously.
This is where we really get into the game: after being sorted, the wool is packaged to prepare it for road transport to the processing plants in Italy.
In these mills, wool undergoes the following treatments:
- wash
- carding
- combing
That's it, our wool is combed to extract the short fibers for maximum softness and plumpness.
Treatment should take one to two months.
We soon find it in bales, in the form of a 200 m long ribbon ready to be sent to the spinning mill. These long ribbons then pass through drawing frames, followed by spinning frames, which give the yarn its twist. Then, if necessary, the yarn is twisted.
This is where two paths are created and separated:
Some of the wool will end up on the doorstep of a French boutique, knitted with technique and precision in French workshops using 2/30 (very fine) yarn and industrial flat knitting machines.
The other part is less urban, knitted by the hands of wool enthusiasts. Amateurs, novices, experts and enthusiasts will all apply themselves to creating with our dyed skeins of wool.
Two uses means two spinning mills: both are located in Northern France, where the textile industry is trying to survive in the face of intractable pressure from foreign competitors working under more favorable economic conditions.
Our wool is now 100% traceable, and we are members of the Collectif Tricolor, which has provided us with a traceability tool that is connected and accessible to breeders.
With Studio Arcadie, you reside in the quintessential space of wool, a forgotten world - we've turned on the light.
Traceability
Studio Arcadie is part of the Tricolor collective, and thanks to them we have an efficient traceability tool.
From the harvesting of wool batches to the manufacture of the product, we are able to trace the entire wool processing chain.
Discover the Studio Arcadie ranges here:
Design in Paris, Knitting in Mayenne.
Design in Paris, Knitting in Mayenne.
Dyed and spun in Northern France.