My skin is brown, like the earth, and black like coal. Neither heat nor rain can penetrate. The armaillis love me, particularly in winter. I'm...the La Roche cardigan or waistcoat, if you like. A garment that's part of the life of the former Gruyerian seigneury.
But these waistcoats may soon become a thing of the past. Madame Cécile Théraulaz of La Roche, one of the last people to make them, has had to decide to give up. The job of making them is really demanding. You have to reckon on about 90 hours of work and 1,6 kilos of rough wool per garment. A month of your time, actually. Another worry: you virtually cannot now find the raw material, the brown sheep's wool that hasn't been dyed or cleaned. The farmers prefer to burn it, since it no longer has any real value. So the waistcoat's future now hangs on a thread…
