“We fell in love with this industry at first sight,” says Henri Quinta, the designer and owner of the textile company Les Toiles du Soleil. His passion for making cloth has roots in his childhood. “From when I was a young child, I loved colors. My favorite present was color crayons.”

Now Quinta never lets anybody else create, design or select the colors for the fabrics and products his company produces. He is the only designer of Les Toiles du Soleil(which means “the cloth of the sun”). “I create the design and select the colors,” he says. “And then workers do some work and so do machines. Every canvas involves some handwork.”

Henri’s wife, Françoise Quinta, manages Maison Quinta the Les Toiles du Soleil outlet in Perpignan, France. “Every fabric tells a story,” she says. “Each fabric reflects own region. If it is Collioure, it would have the color of the sand in Collioure. We are bringing the region to the fabrics.”

It is a unique approach, and that is what the Quintas are proud of. They want to establish authenticity as much as possible by drawing on the colors they find in their region of France.

The Quintas have one shop in New York, one in Paris and five in Japan. She said that they would love to spread their business, but they have to be very careful. They do not desire their business to be a huge, bland corporation. They want authenticity not only in their products, but also in their way of doing business.

In the meantime, are there really many people who feel gratitude for what the Quintas are doing? Henri Quinta mentioned that the Japanese are more appreciative and care more about the authenticity and high quality of their products than Americans do, and that may be the reason that the Quintas have many shops in Japan and only one in the United States. They are going to launch one more shop in Japan in November.

The original factory opened more than 150 years ago in Saint Laurent de Cerdans, a village in the Catalan part of France, on the Spanish border. The textile industry expanded in that region. But by 1993 there was only one factory still operating. Henri and Françoise Quinta bought it.

They were both decorators, but decided to change their journey. “The previous owner had only sad colors (gray, brown, black, etc.) And then we started to make stripes,” says Françoise Quinta. “My husband deals with creation and I stay in the shop, so I know what clients want.” Their imperative was to keep the traditional fabric, while adding vivid colors and striped designs. Today the Quintas take credit for saving the Catalan textile tradition.

Even in New York, people seem to want striped cloth. It’s a good thing because that’s all that Les Toiles du Soleil makes.

“We did not have choices because our looms can only do stripes,” Henri Quintas says. “People have to understand the sensitivity of the fabrics and appreciate what we do. And workers have to fall in love with the fabrics so that they sell them with their hearts.”

Frederic Abribat, the owner of the shop Les Toiles Du Nord in Perpignan, France, sells the fabrics, napkins, table clothes, etc., from Les Toiles du Soleil and other fabric factories. According to Abribat, the products made by Les Toiles du Soleil last 20 years longer than polyester fabrics with similar designs.

Until about three years ago, patterns with flowers and fruit from Provence were in fashion, Abribat said. With the changing of the times, Catalan stripes have come into vogue.

Les Toiles du Soleil’s color comes from the thread; other fabrics can be printed. And Les Toiles du Soleil uses 100 percent cotton, while other fabrics are made of polyester or acrylic.

“People use them for the big occasions such as wedding, birthday, but you have to be able to afford it,” Abribat says.

The prices of Les Toiles du Soleil fabrics are 7 to 15 euros more expensive than other factory products, but people can see the differences even at glance – and when they touch them.  

Pascale Legrand, a customer at Maison Quinta, said that she is definitely willing to pay more for getting high-quality products from Les Toiles du Soleil. The Legrands live in Reims, France, and whenever they come to visit Perpignan they shop at Maison Quinta, she said.

“I can get other fabrics anywhere, but I like Les Toiles du Soleil because it’s authentic. Even though it is more expensive than some the other products, I appreciate the quality.” She has used the fabrics for a tablecloth and for a bread bag.

During lunchtime, Quinta’s phone never stops ringing. Representatives of shops from Russia and Japan want to talk to him about their partnerships and the products. He has to be in love with his fabrics and color and he sure is. He hardly takes a rest as machines in the factory make colorful fabrics. You can see the sweat, true passion, and heart he puts into his work. Even today, they are keeping the Catalan culture going in a little town, Saint Laurent de Cerdans.    

Les Toiles du Soleil

“Striped was all we could do! And fortunately, it worked out really well!” says Henri Quinta, the owner and designer of Les Toiles du Soleil (meaning: the cloth of the Sun). Les Toiles du Soleil is the name of the famous striped fabric made near Perpignan, France. It is not only famous in Paris now, but also in Japan and the United States.

The original factory opened more than 100 years ago in a village in the Catalan part of France called Saint Laurent de Cerdans. The town was known for making authentic, handmade espadrilles using vivid fabrics. In 1993, Henri and FrançoiseQuinta bought the factory. Their most significant motto is “keeping the tradition,” and this is the essential element of their success, even in the modern era. They only changed the color and design. They are still using the majority of the original machines for making the fabrics. Even their few new ones are specially designed only for them. They use these new ones only because the old ones are so slow.

The old machines only allow them to make striped patterns. But the Catalan flag is striped, and so stripes are a fitting symbol for Les Toiles du Soleil.

The Quintas make the fabrics with 100% woven cotton, trying hard to be as genuine as possible. The quality of the fabrics is imperative. They even invented a new way of storing the fabric. They used to use regular plastic to wrap it up, but now they use wood instead to keep the quality fresh.

And this is how the Quintas attracted the Japanese. The Japanese loved the Quintas’ effort to maintain the tradition and high quality of the fabrics, said Henri Quinta. As a result the Quintas already have seven stores in Japan. Americans are less appreciative of these attributes, he said. While they have a store in New York, co-operated with Cole-Haan, it is only open in Spring and Summer.

I hope that the Quintas keep their valuable tradition going, proving worldwide that they can still be as successful as hipper stores, and showing that hard work and passion for what you do never go out of style.

Before I came to France, I heard many people say that French people do not like speaking English. French people think that they are the best in the world. When I went to visit Collioure last weekend, one of the stores’ clerks said the same thing.  She also said that many French people think that visitors to the country should speak French.
            Her comments made me worry about our weekend trip to Paris. She said, “I am originally from Paris, and they are snobby and stuck-up, although nice in their hearts. They think they are all that and everybody should know French.  However, they will speak in English if
you really cannot speak French.”

On our trip to Paris last weekend, five of us were trying to have a nice supper at a restaurant. We tried hard, but our French was, of course, far from perfect. Our waitress made her annoyance with our poor French clear, and corrected almost every word we said.
            Having spent 10 years living in the United States, I consider Americans one of the most arrogant and spoiled peoples in the world. However, I now think that the French people top Americans.
            A very odd thing I have observed is that, as much as French people do not prefer speaking English, they love to use American songs in TV commercials, background music for TV shows, in stores, and for listening while they are driving.  I see some hypocrisy in French people enjoying American songs so much since they detest speaking English.
            I wonder what the French people have to say about this issue. I sense that a majority of other countries love and abhor America simultaneously. According to French vs. American culture, French people still consider the American Dream a reality, and many students come to America to learn English. I suppose the explanation is that the French find Americans disagreeable, but they adore them at the same time.

People love dogs all over the world, but in Perpignan this affection takes a different form.

I saw one guy in a coffee shop put his dog on his lap and start talking to him as if the dog were his son. He started to clean the dog’s eyes with his hands, kept petting him and talked to him forever.  It’s not the first time I have seen this kind of scene, but I cannot help feeling that something more is going on in Perpignan, and perhaps elsewhere in France.

The other side of the story about Perpignan’s dogs is not that pleasant. Frankly speaking, I have noticed a lot of dogs’ leavings everywhere on the street, and my group and I have to watch out wherever we go. I wonder how these people can love their dogs so much and not clean up after them.

According to an article by THE AGE in 2011, a scientist in Toulouse is working on a scent that controls where dogs defecate. I hope that people in Perpignan take the project seriously as well.

I have also seen dogs sleeping on the street with their owners. When I saw it the first time, I thought these dogs were dead. It seems they pretty much go everywhere with their owners. Fortunately, the dogs are really tame and do not even bark at you as lots of dogs do in the United States, so you do not have to worry when you are passing them by.

Just be careful where you step.