Musee du Textile et de la Mode

The Musee du Textile occupies a former bleach works on the outskirts of Cholet, complete with its tall brick chimney and the slow river that powered the wheels. Inside, the exhibition traces the linen industry from cottage weaving through to mechanised mass production, and lets you see actual nineteenth-century jacquard looms in operation.

It is a niche subject treated thoroughly. The combination of working machinery, period workshops and the building itself — clearly industrial, clearly preserved with care — makes for a more atmospheric visit than the subject suggests on paper.

things to do museum
A story
The famous red-and-white Cholet handkerchief — the mouchoir de Cholet — was originally a cheap utility square dyed with madder root. It became symbolic during the Vendée Wars when a royalist song claimed the chief Charette wiped his bloodied face with one. By the nineteenth century the handkerchief was a piece of regional folklore and an industry employing thousands.