Toulouse: Toto Tissus, the great fabric bazaar for forty years
Created in 1982 rue Saint-Rome, the Toto Tissus store offers coupons and haberdashery in a cheerful bazaar.
The conductor of Toto Tissus, a sign nestled at the end of a courtyard on rue Saint-Rome since 1982, has been David Mazac for twenty-eight years. Strolling along the 600 m2, scissors and measuring tape always at hand, he details the history of the store “Toto Tissus which takes the first name of its founder, Théodore was first deployed in 1979 on boulevard de Strasbourg and rue des Seven Troubadours before settling in this former billiard room. Specialized in upholstery fabrics, Toto also offers upholstery fabrics, haberdashery and some home accessories”.
“Fabric is an inert material. You have to give it life”
In this dimly lit space, fabrics and coupons infuse color. In bulk, by weight or skillfully rolled up, these fabrics with multiple patterns form a large bazaar reminiscent of the Saint-Pierre market in Paris. “We are leaders for African fabrics, proudly assures David. Very fashionable, they are used as much to redecorate its interior as to make clothes. There are also specialized fabrics called coatings to replace oilcloth, tarpaulin fabrics to design deckchairs and awnings, ready-cut coupons for cushions, napkins, etc. In fact, Toto sells the raw material and the customer invents. A bit like a painter and his palette. We are also very proud to post on social networks, the work completed.
Toto Tissus attracts all kinds of customers: seniors of course, some of whom have been loyal for years, young people delighted to have discovered sewing during confinement, dance schools preparing their show and seamstresses delighted to find dice, packs of needles, zipper, myriad of buttons, all in one place. “This sign is unique in the city center of Toulouse. Sometimes tourists come to the photographer. It has become an institution. The choice is varied, the prices very competitive. Aspects that explain its success. Paradoxically, the Covid crisis has helped us. Essential store, we have boosted creation. Like the masks for which we sold a lot of fabrics ”.
Ghislaine, embroiderer, is a faithful Toto: “Everything is there. Accessories often not found elsewhere, such as miles of lace”. Josepha, a sales assistant for fifteen years, is unbeatable on this subject: “fabric is an inert material that needs to be brought to life. Hence the need for personalized advice. It also has its fashions: currently it is skulls and very colorful branches”. Fabrics imported from France, Barcelona and Belgium lend themselves to a thousand and one projects.