at St Laurent de Cerdans only 5kms  from Falgos

A tradition of craftmanship enabled St-Laurent to become the main centre of production of espadrilles. Then in 1860, Joseph Sans, brought to the village where he was born, machines for manufacturing cloth. He was then able to produced the woven souls mechanically, up to then entirely they were made by hand from hemp. This helped the factory "Sans & Garcerie" to dominate the sandal industry and they traded throughout Catalonia.
In 1994, Sans & Garcerie, the last textile manufactuer in the region, closed down, taking with it the principal source of employment in the village. 

Françoise and Henri Quinta, both originally from the region, were fascinated by the factory and its history. Their love of the authentic traditional cloths led them to buy the factory and start up a new adventure under the name  "Les Toiles du Soleil".

http://www.toiles-du-soleil.com