We knew, of course, that linen was the most sustainable, ecological and durable natural fabric in the
world, but truly we had no idea just how exceptionally, wonderfully amazing it really is.
It is grown in the traditional way, uses no water in its production, creates no waste
and has nothing but good to add to the world of interiors and clothing manufacture.
To find out more about the wonders of a fabric that is made from nothing, absolutely nothing, more
than the stem and roots of the flax plant, we went to Belgium.
We learned that flax is the only natural fibre cultivated on a large scale in
Western Europe. A total of 120,000 tons of flax is produced on 75,000 acres.
The seeds are planted in March and 100 days later it is harvested in July, pulling the whole
plant including the roots, all of which are processed into linen thread.
The ideal growing conditions are found from Ireland to France, Belgium and Holland.
Once harvested it is left on the ground, exposed to dew, rain and sunshine where its unique
colour is manifested according to the weather, the crop is regularly turned to achieve an even
colour. This is why our natural linen base cloths' colour cannot be controlled.
So, to the factory.
An overwhelming, beautiful hub of activity, each area dedicated to one of the many processes
required to produce linen.
required to produce linen.
The overwhelming scale of linen production.
The raw flax waiting to be spun into this
and threaded onto this
The scutching and hacking and spinning turns the raw flax into thread which is carefully threaded
onto mind blowingly huge machines, complicated computers are involved, but each process is
carefully monitored by humans.
The perfectly natural linen threads being woven into cloth, where every centimetre is overseen
by human eyes and made perfect by human hands.
The fibres are woven into various weights for furnishing, clothing and artists' canvas.
It is then dyed (or not) using Oeko-Tex compliant dyes, totally free of harmful substances.
The whole factory is run with the environment at its core, nothing is wasted even the
sweepings are sent off to paper factories to be made into paper.
This is what we make from linen.
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| White linen Swirly Panel Coat |
Currently all our fabrics are printed onto linen, and much of our clothing collection.
Having learned of the processes in making this extraordinary fabric, we hope to make
it the mainstay of all our collections.
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