Alsatian Textile Designs

Alsace was developed early on with a commercial and industrial economy and urban growth. Textile manufacturing, based in and around Mulhouse, was one of the region’s oldest industries. Textile designs were made in Mulhouse, Alsace, which was an important nineteenth-century center for textile production in the Haut-Rhin region of France. The first Alcase textile printing factory was founded in 1746. The most important Alsatian industry, imprimerie indienne, the Protestant-owned textile industry, employed no Catholics.

In 1871, Germany annexed Alsace. Because of slow industrialization in Germany, which in 1871 still relied on manual equipment, the Alsace textile firms were far superior in their production abilities. German textile factories could not compete with Alsace industry. They wanted protection from Alsatian competition, arguing that “the only effective means of protection was to guarantee the Alsatians their traditional French market by removing tariffs between Germany and France”.