Pure linen is often a highly appreciated item, and it is one of the oldest clothing materials that go back thousands of years early. Linen fibres come from cellulose fibres, which are found inside the stalks of a flax plant. This plant is known to be one of the earliest plants of human history.
The Earliest Story of Linen
Flax plants were known to have been cultivated in the Mediterranean and Asian regions some 9000 years ago. But Egyptians were known to use flax fibres for their clothing or ropes even before this. One of the famous processes of mummification by Egyptians also used linen.
Process of Flax to Linen
Flax plants are planted in fields, and after about 100 days, the fibres are cultivated. The seed heads turn to golden or yellow colours, which hints at the time for harvest. Most often, the harvesting involves handpicked linen from the flax plant. Instead of cutting the fibres, they are pulled all out with roots to ensure the length of the fibres. This is highly effective when done manually than any other type of equipment.
Cold and cloudy weather is highly suitable for the plantation of the flax plants to ensure the premium quality of linen fibres because it is neither too hot nor too cold. After flax fibres are cultivated or extracted, they are tied together and bundled together with others. Al these bundles are sundried in sunny places.
After the drying process, it becomes easier to collect the seeds from the seed heads, which is called a rippling process. The idea of this process is to separate the seeds from the fibres completely by bashing the dry ends of the linen bundles. This process is followed by a process called retting which involves the linen plants rotting in a special pond - but only partially. This process will separate the fibre from the stem.
The next process separates the remaining shives from the flax fibres and is called a scutching process. After this, the flax is prepared for spinning, and the next weaving is where your special linen fabric is getting made finally.
In its natural form, Linen fabric is beige, which is why it is bleached to white shade before getting sold to manufacturers or suppliers.
Conclusion
Flax to linen is a long process and also special because hardly any machine is used. And this is why linen is not exactly a cheap material to buy or wear, especially when you are looking for authentic and pure linen.
Ramraj Cotton offers the most authentic linen white shirt material and linen pants fabric in India and have the most competitive prices for the manufacturers in India. The company deals with many suppliers and retail owners in India for linen clothing for shirts and pants and other kids' and women’s clothing.