Linen
Linen has always been a sustainable material. It is made from the flax plant, which grows best in humid maritime climates (so also in the Netherlands). Linen is no longer as popular as it used to be. The Netherlands used to have about 30,000 hectares of land sown with flax, nowadays this is about 2000 hectares. This is partly due to the rise of cheap cotton and synthetic fabrics.
In order to make linen the flax plants are dried, retted and turned. Retting is exposing the product to water which releases fibres. The fibres from flax are very long, making it possible to spin beautiful and strong yarn.
Linen has a very short growth cycle. Flax is sown in March and harvested in July. Few to none pesticides are needed to grow the plant and it uses relatively little water. All parts of the flax plant are usable.
Linen absorbs moisture well, making it feel cool in summer.