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The great wave of recycling that swept North America in the 1980s began with a few tiny ripples. Among these ripples were the tentative recycling efforts of a woolens mill acquired by one William Duval thirty years earlier to ensure that his wife and nine children had a job. Known as Victor Woolens Ltd., the company was founded in Saint-Victor, Quebec, in 1947 and from the very start would obey the principle that no material was waste. The Duval family would knock on doors in their efforts to recuperate old clothes which they spun and wove into new materials. Victor Woolens' principles would resonate through the years as its recycled fibres were combined with new material to produce fabric for school uniforms, billiard table covering, military uniforms as well as a number of textile products carried in larger retail stores. Eventually Victor Woolens would become one of the largest woolens mills in Canada. But its story was only beginning.
Recycled polyester, used by the company since the mid 80s, confers exceptional stability to woven fabric. The manufacture of fabric for the contract office furniture industry proved overwhelmingly successful for the company at a time when cubicle separators were becoming ubiquitous in Canadian and U.S. workplaces. The company, operated by brothers Alain and Richard Duval since the early 1990s, saw its fortunes rise spectacularly. It was time for Victor Woolens to consolidate its dominant position and propel the industry to move along with it.
Nineteen-ninety-four saw the founding of a new company dedicated to interior textile innovation in the furniture industry. Victor Innovatex opened its doors in Beauceville, applying state-of-the-art spinning and weaving procedures to panel-fabric production. Demand for the product grew so fast that operations soon had to be performed in two locations. While thread production was maintained in Beauceville, Saint-Georges saw the opening of an ultramodern weaving mill. In one move, the company had increased production capacity considerably while guaranteeing it had all the space it needed for continuous growth.
Victor Innovatex now numbers some 150 employees, half of whom work on production and half on administration, design, and Research and Development. The company has seen its workforce increase by roughly 28 percent throughout the past three years and is now heading for...