Flax linen
Lin is a stem fiber.
Lin
Humans began using flax for several thousand years ago, and flax is probably the first plant that was used for textile production. Natural fibers are divided into the plant fiber and animal fiber. Flax is a plant fiber, and along with cotton it is the most important ingredient in the industry of apparel and home textiles. Plant fibers are divided into “seed hair”, stalk fiber, leaf fiber and fruit fiber. Lin is a stem fiber which means that the fiber is extracted from the stalk from the 0.5-1,25 m tall linen plant. The flax fibers located inside the stalk are joined together with plant glue to 60-75 cm long tows. The fibers can grow from the plants root to tip and is cemented in bundles of approximately 20-25 per stem. The fibers are similar to but straighter and often referred to as elements fibers. The flax is prepared by various processes such as scratching, digestion/rotting, fractioning, peeling, hedge treatment and sometimes even spinning and weaving. A distinction is made between flax and linseed/oil-lin.
Contents
Production Countries
Main production countries are, Eastern Europe, primarily the former Soviet Union and Poland. These two areas account for more than 50% of the world’s production. Other countries that can be mentioned are Belgium, Holland, France and Ireland.
Flax most important characteristics
- No extensibility / elasticity - Can easily snap/break after repeated breaking/bending
- Wrinkles easily
- Very good tensile/pulling strength
Laundry and temperature resistance
Lin is durable to washed, but one should wash one’s linen more gentle than cotton so that the Lin can maintain its luster and remain lint free. In order to not reduce the flax’s strength and durability one should rather wash at 60 degrees than at 95 degrees. Dirt loosens more easily from flax than cotton.
Environmental aspects
The traditional way of growing flax/lin both hand-fertilizers and pesticides are used. Lin is not very sensitive to pests which mean that one does not require such large volumes of pesticides, but the levels are roughly comparable to conventional grain production, while nitrogen fertilization is significantly lower. It is therefore difficult to single out any specific aspects of just flax. Like other crops, flax also play its part in the conventional agriculture's negative impacts on the environment.
Source: Reis, B 2003 Textile Materials Engineering, Proteko Learning Ltd (Reis, B 2003 Textil Materiallära, PROTEKO Läromedel AB)
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