France, similar to many other countries pursuing the use and profits of indigo, also has a long history to tell. Like China there was a similar indigo dyed garment, widely adopted by the French working class, called bleu de travail or the blue work jacket.
Left- the Blue work jacket. (from the vintagecatalogue.com) Right- workers in their blue work clothes captured in a french impressionist style painting (from the art on manliness.com)
Napoleon also had an influence on the indigo trade. He wanted blue uniforms for his military which had been dyed with indigo. In 1806 Napoleon tried to revive the woad dye industry in France and skirt trading with the British East India Company for indigo. Woad was also a blue dye producing plant that was hard to grow and use commercially. He ordered thousands of acres of woad planted in France but failed to produce the results he wanted. By 1812 Napoleon abandoned the failed woad industry and lifted the British trade embargo. Blue dyed military uniforms and the indigo trade resumed in France.
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| Napoleon (from biography.com) |
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