Calais-Caudry Lace Wins Protected Geographical Indication as Industry Declines

Calais-Caudry lace has gained official protection across the European Union at a difficult moment for the French industry. The lace, prized by major fashion designers around the world, now carries a protected geographical indication in all 27 member states.

France’s National Institute of Industrial Property, known as INPI, announced the registration alongside eight other French craft and industrial products. They include Jura wood-turning and tablet-making traditions and seven building materials, including stones from the Midi, Limeyrat, Fontbelle, Paussac, Vianne, Mareuil and Arudy.

The new registrations bring the number of French geographical indications extended across Europe to 15, out of 24. Limoges porcelain and Breton granite were already among the protected products. An EU regulation introduced on Dec. 1, 2025, made it possible to register protected geographical indications for craft and industrial products across the bloc.

The recognition arrives only weeks after Darquer, Calais’s oldest lace factory, entered judicial liquidation. Founded in 1840, the company employed 45 people before it stopped operating in mid-July and still ran about 40 Leavers looms, large cast-iron machines developed in England and later refined with Jacquard technology.

That technique produces exceptionally fine lace and helped establish the industry in Calais before it spread to Caudry. The sector reached its peak in the early 20th century but now competes with knitted lace, much of it produced in Asia at far lower cost.

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They now benefit from the protected geographical indication label for craft and industrial products.