This is why linen is so great but an expensive fabric!

Linen is a sustainable fabric made from flax fibres. The flax plant has been cultivated in just about every country in the world. It has been used to make fibre for over 6,000 years. To extract the fibres, the plants are either cut or pulled by hand from the ground. It is said that pulling creates a finer linen. The seeds are then removed through a process called winnowing or ripping. Followed by retting which removes the plant stock from the fibres. Once the fibres are separated, which can be up to 20 centimetres long, they are then spun into yarn and eventually woven into fabric.

The resulting linen textile is two to three times stronger than cotton and dries at a much faster rate. Because of its porous nature, linen has natural heat and moisture-wicking properties that make it a good conductor of warmth.Why such a  popular fabric to use for clothing or bedding in the summer. The natural fibres also hold dye colours better than some other materials. Thus the linen fabric is available in almost any imaginable colour.

As you can see,  quite a laborious manufacturing process and why an expensive fabric. Of course there are different quality of linen.The thinner, the worse quality as tends to crumple up and  crease much easier. Many manufacturers produce a blend fabric, mixture of linen and cotton fibres. This gives the fabric weight but still breathable.

You can see our collection of linen garments stocked at the moment.