Welcome to Fabra i Coats!
Founded in 1837 by Ferran Puig i Gibert under the name of El Vapor de Fil, the establishment of the factory in Sant Andreu became a clear symbol of the transition from an agricultural society, to an industrial town (Ajuntament de Barcelona n.d.). In 1844, due to technical problems, the initial company was dissolved and appears as Ferran Puig i Cia. The daughter of Ferran Puig will marry Camil Fabra, industrialist and family customer. The desire for the politics of Ferran Puig will be the birth of the exclusive dedication of his son-in-law, Camil Fabra. Puig and Gilabert led the company associated with Fabra, and dedicated entirely to the manufacture of linen. In 1866, it was established as Fabra i Puig i Cia. Start of cotton production. In 1882 Ferran Puig left the company and Camil Fabra i Cia was born. Successors of Ferran Puig. In 1893 Camil Fabra was appointed mayor of Barcelona. In 1884 Camil Fabra will be merged with Manel Portabella and Cia, from where the Successive Joint Stock Company of Fabra i Portabella will emerge. Extending a production network in Manresa, La Sagrera and Sant Andreu
Meanwhile, in Scotland, a businessman named James Clark and the Coats family dominated 80% of the production of thread for sewing in Britain, professional success that gave them the able to expand their company to Japan, Mexico, Europe and even in Catalonia. In 1903 the "Sucesores de Fabra y Portabella", the managers of the Catalan factory at that time, signed a merger agreement with Clark that resulted in the "Compañía Anónima Hilaturas de Fabra y Coats", an important event that was the first investment foreign in the Catalan industrial economy
Since then, the history of the Fabra i Coats is a story of successes that can be seen in the continued expansion of the factory with the addition of new spaces, such as Ca l'Alzina, on Gran Street and the diversification of its production, which was expanded with knitwear, poplin for shirts, gabardine clothing, jeans clothes, socks, stockings etc.
In 1911, the Fabra i Coats was established as the first industrial contributor of Sant Andreu and one of the main ones in the city of Barcelona, with a total of 1,600 workers, of whom 80% were women. They say that it was because of the large number of women who worked in the factory that it was popularly called Can Mamella, because of the large number of families that it employed, but also Els Alemanys, Les Filatures or Can Portabella
And, thanks to the association of the Catalan industry with the English industry, the factory introduced a large number of labor advantages that were not yet implemented in Spain. In 1905, for example, they founded the "Mutual Relief for Employees of the Fabra y Coats Spinning Company", in charge of ensuring that workers receive a payment in case they had a sick leave or even to collect an amount quarterly once they retire. Loans and grants for housing were offered (in Sant Andreu, the Fabra i Coats came to build a total of 260 homes for workers) and a medical service was created to attend to work-related accidents but also to the children of workers, with a pediatric service. In addition, cultural and sports activities were also encouraged (Ajuntament de Barcelona n.d.; Vinyes i Roig 2008). The Factory saw the birth of the Filatures Fabra i Coats Sports Club, years later became Barcelona Atlèlic and later with the purchase of the field and equipment, by Josep Lluís Núñez, in Barcelona.
The dreamy course of the Fabra I Coats was ended in 2005, since the textile crisis and the industrial reconversion of the sector at the end of the 20th century meant that from the 70s to the 2000s, the Fabra i Coats suffered a fall process. The City Council was in charge of buying the buildings for its conservation and reconversion in what we know now when we hear the name of Fabra i Coats: a multidisciplinary space that welcomes all kinds of artistic creators, social service spaces, centers, libraries etc. Today the building is seen as a hybridization center that encompasses contemporaneity without forgetting where we came from, conserving the historical memory of the factory.