Men and Women sheperd capes made in France

Men and Women sheperd capes

 

Bure or “homespun cloth” comes down to us from the depths of times past, legend even claiming that in the bilges of Noah’s Ark lumps of raw wool were trodden by animals in the holds, transforming them into compact material that was easy to work. With the passage of time Bure became by definition the French name for a coarse brown sheep’s wool fabric used mainly by shepherds and religious orders from the Middle Ages. We offer two models using this material: the Shepherd’s Cape, made to measure and inspired by the authentic cape worn by the shepherds in our mountains and the simple Pilgrim’s Cape, which is lighter and can be slipped on over every other piece of clothing to give protection from cold or wind.
 
It is only made to measure and as a special order, mainly in “brown bure”. It can also be made, depending on the availability of pieces of cloth, in black, greige or ecru. Please contact us for information about production lead times.

The Shepherd’s Cape is a unique piece of clothing, in a tradition kept alive by us. It is a rare object, and can be given as an original and durable gift.
 
The origin of the word “Bure”. The term ‘bureau’ is explained by the fact that, in the Middle Ages, certain tables were made of no more than rough-hewn stone. Copyist monks who worked long hours were often cold from resting their arms permanently on them. So they had the idea of covering such tables with a piece of bure, the coarse homespun wool cloth used for monks’ clothing.