HALLUIN, FR—Gratry Lorthiois at the age of 231 years, and parent company Textiles Ile de France have declared bankruptcy as of December 1, 2011.

Creditors have been given until December 28 to make their claims to the bankruptcy administrator.

Anton Willefort was the current president of this mill but he could not be reached for further comment. Although it survived two World Wars and has been a world renowned producer of jacquard fabrics since the beginning of the 20th century, it could not survive current market conditions, an agent said. Lorthiois was founded in 1780 in the north of France. The Gratry family, having established its own weaving mill in 1872 also in the north of France, merged with Lorthiois in 1970 to form Gratry Lorthiois.

In 2008, new owners of the business took over but they could not make it work in this economic environment. Since January 2009, Gratry Lorthiois became a registered brand of Textiles de France. Just a few years ago, the company was generating around two million Euros in sales in the USA but this had declined to 700,000 Euros in 2011, a knowledgeable source told F&FI. The company sold its products worldwide but the USA was a major market.

Gratry Lorthiois owned 50 jacquard looms and produced high end fabrics for upholstery, apparel and technical applications. It offered a complete line including contract, residential, outdoor fabrics and curtain sheers. It was a regular exhibitor at Proposte, MoOD and Techtextil.