Savonnerie Fer à Cheval

Four soap factories against the whole world. Fer à Cheval is the oldest, the most combative. The process hasn't changed because it doesn't need to, ten days of cauldron is what it takes. The €10 cube lasts months. It's the most anti-consumerist gesture there is.

Marseille and soap go back to the 14th century. But in the 19th, the city had dozens of industrial soap factories, olive oil arrived from the port, soda from the Camargue, and the mistral wind dried the bars on the rooftops. In 1856, the Fer à Cheval soap factory opened in the Sainte-Marthe district, north of Marseille. The name comes from the mark stamped on each cube, a horseshoe, a sign of luck. The process has been codified since Colbert's time: oil and soda cooked in giant cauldrons for ten days. Washed five times with seawater to remove excess soda. The paste poured on the floor. Cut. Stamped. In the 20th century, industrial Marseille soap, the supermarket kind, made in Asia with palm oil, killed authentic soap factories one by one. Of the 90 soap factories Marseille had in 1900, only 4 remain in 2024. Fer à Cheval nearly died too. In 2003, the Compagnie des Détergents et du Savon de Marseille took over the factory. In 2013, the Seghin brothers took the helm and bet everything on authenticity: the real Marseille process, the real cauldrons, the real oils. The Sainte-Marthe factory was classified as industrial heritage. The 20-tonne cauldrons still run. Fer à Cheval became the flag-bearer of a fight: defending the 'savon de Marseille' name against imitations. With Le Sérail, Marius Fabre and Savonnerie du Midi, they founded the UPSM, Union of Marseille Soap Professionals. Four soap factories against the whole world.