DMC (company)


Dollfus-Mieg et Compagnie, is an Alsatian textile company created in Mulhouse in 1746 by Jean-Henri Dollfus. During the twentieth century, it was one of the largest European textile and industry groups. DMC was the owner and then shareholder of the Ronchamp coal mines. Listed on the Paris stock exchange since 1922, it merged with the Lille company Thiriez and Cartier-Bresson in 1961. After going through a crisis in the 1990s, the old company was liquidated in 2009. In September 2016, the British investment fund BlueGem Capital Partners purchased 100% of the capital of DMC.

History

Eighteenth century

Printing on fabrics was introduced into Mulhouse, France in the middle of the 18th century, allowed the bourgeoisie to manufacture indiennes fabric, which made their fortune. Among the bourgeoisie was the Dollfus family, which was linked to the Koechlin and Engel families. These families included many entrepreneurs, such as Jean-Henri Dollfus.
At the end of the 18th century, the Dollfus family set up a factory in the neighboring village of Dornach, along a stream, the Steinbaechlein, which was favorable for the treatment of fabrics. The region of Mulhouse thus plays, after Geneva, a central role in the history of Indian cotton in Europe.

Nineteenth century

Daniel Dollfus, a nephew of Jean-Henri Dollfus, was able to take over the company thanks to the contribution of his wife Anne-Marie Mieg. He restructured the company as Dollfus-Mieg et Compagnie, which was officially created on March 21, 1800. The business diversified under the First Empire, with the introduction of weaving and mechanical spinning. These enabled it to control the different phases of fabric manufacturing on the same site. André Koechlin took over the management in 1818. An engineer in the André Koechlin & Cie company, Émile Koechlin, also participated in the business.
From its creation, the company was the main client of the Ronchamp coal mines, and in 1812 became its owner. However, in 1843, the widow of Daniel Dollfus had to sell the mines because of poor earnings. Nevertheless, the company remained on the board of directors and remained the main client and shareholder.
In 1841, Emile Dollfus added the manufacture of thread sewing to the activities of DMC, the specialty that has made the reputation of the company.
The company also continued printing fabrics and was the first company to use a machine capable of printing 12 colors. Frédéric-Engel Dollfus, a follower of Saint-Simon, joined DMC as an associate in 1843. In particular, he developed the production of sewing thread and embroidery cotton, sold worldwide, and mechanized production. In 1870, he took an active part in the economic negotiations which preceded and followed the Treaty of Frankfurt between Prussia and France. He was a member of the Commission for the Defense of Alsatian Interests, and was sent to Tours to the Government of National Defense of 1870.
Frédéric-Engel Dollfus created for the workers of the company an emergency and retirement fund, group insurance, a nursing home for the elderly, a society to encourage savings, schools and facilities for children. He also created a clinic for sick children in Mulhouse. Finally, he founded the Preventive Accidents Association, in which several manufacturers participated. This association aimed to prevent accidents at work; their inspectors controlled the associated factories. This initiative partially influenced the promulgation of the laws of 1871 and 1874 relating to the improvement of the working conditions of workers from the point of view of safety and health.
Frédéric-Engel Dollfus also helped found the drawing school intended to train draughtsmen for the painted canvas industry and the Mulhouse spinning and weaving school.
In 1888, the Indian factory was liquidated because it had deficits.
Meanwhile, Jean Dollfus-Mieg met the Austrian embroidery designer Thérèse de Dillmont during the Universal Exhibition of 1878. He recognized the importance of Thérèse de Dillmont's embroidery creations and the potential it would bring to the company. He managed to persuade her to come and settle in Dornach, where the DMC company is located, in order to found an embroidery school there. It was not until 1884 that Thérèse de Dillmont left the Vienna Embroidery Academy to settle in Mulhouse. It was there that she wrote her famous Encyclopedia of Needlework, the first edition of which dates to 1886.

Twentieth century

In 1922, DMC was listed on the Paris stock exchange. During the German occupation of France in the Second World War, the company worked for the Nazis in war production. In 1961, it merged with the Lille company Thiriez and Cartier-Bresson. The Mulhouse company kept its corporate name but replaced its logo, a bell, with that of Thiriez, a horse's head. In the 1960s, the company had up to 30,000 employees. DMC also diversified into weaving, in fabric printing, and in household linen.The group also had a factory for zippers and has been engaged in publishing. It is to the DMC editions that we owe the Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont, an essential reference work for all needlework.
DMC suffered oil-related shocks and Asian competition as a part of the European textile crisis. In 1990, the workforce had been halved to 15,000 employees. Printed textiles were also going out of fashion. The group tried to diversify by launching approximately twenty Loisirs et Création stores offering embroidery and interior decoration items. The decline continued and from 10,000 employees in 1998, it had only about 1,100 ten years later.

Twenty-first century

Led by Jacques Boubal and his right-hand man Dominique Poile, the restructuring continued. By 2008, the company had only around 800 people. In addition to the stores, the group only kept the manufacture of velvet and embroidery thread. The accumulation of the group's strategic errors led to a bitter failure with liabilities of around 100 million euros, culminating in its cessation of payments in May 2008.
The consulting company Bernard Krief Consulting took over, as part of a disposal plan, the velvet activity of SAIC Velcorex in August 2008 and the embroidery thread activity in December 2008. Bernard Krief Consulting appointed, as president of the new DMC SAS, the former manager Dominique Poile to whom he sold capital in 2009, in violation of the law.
On February 18, 2009, the judicial liquidation of the old company was pronounced by the Paris Commercial Court. DMC shares were withdrawn from Euronext listing. In 2011, the plan to sell the embroidery thread activity was challenged by the filing of a complaint for fraud in the December 2008 judgment. In June 2016, the British investment fund BlueGem Capital Partners  announced its intention to buy 100% of the capital of DMC. The repurchase was made in September 2016. In February 2019 the DMC company was acquired by the British investment fund Lion Capital.