Regenerative Textiles: The Sustainable Advantages Of Flax Linen

November 14, 2019

For as long as humans have dressed beyond the bone, linen fabric has been the main material we've worn. As a bast fiber, linen is spun from seed to fabric from the inner stem of the flax plant, a plant so diverse its stems, leaves and seeds can be transformed into ingredients for multiple industries. 

Since flax grows in almost any season, and in almost any type of soil (including soil which can't be used for food production) it can be cultivated and manufactured as a regenerative regional fiber. In plant form, it mobilizes phosphorus in the soil, adding to organic matter both as it grows and as it decomposes. Flax also acts as a perfect winter cover crop, and thrives best in crop rotations, helping bring an end to monoculture farming while aiding in carbon drawdown and preventing soil depletion. When left undyed, or dyed with regeneratively grown plant-dyes, it is also beautifully biodegradable, encouraging sustainable fashion through carbon farming systems. 

5 QUESTIONS TO ASK TO FIND OUT IF LINEN IS REGENERATIVE, SUSTAINABLE, OR GREENWASHED?

In 2017, a Pulse of the Fashion Industry report stated that bast fibres (linen, hemp, ect) are the second most sustainable out of all the natural fabrics (after wool, which when created following the principles of Fibershed's Climate Beneficial™ Wool , is regenerative); 

Unfortunately, like any popular fashion fiber, there are many brands using conventional linen (promoted as sustainable) to greenwash their collections. Though conventional linen is still more sustainable than conventional cotton, it is important to understand a few things to prevent greenwashing from happening. 

So, to educate myself (and anyone reading this), I put together 5 questions to ask brands so you can suss out how green their linen clothing, supplies or homeware are before you purchase : 

1. Is The Linen Used Organic?

Not all linen is created equal, and unless it is grown organically, or even better, regeneratively, it is not sustainable. Though conventionally farmed flax is still more sustainable than cotton, conventional linen still poses harms as it relies on herbicides and pesticides, as well as synthetic nitrogen, which pose pollution pains to groundwater, rivers, and marine ecosystems. Linen cultivated in areas that have had a long history growing it are less likely to use these toxic-chemicals; however, organic linen guarantees they're free of harm. So, ideally, you want to ask the brand if the linen has been grown organically or (toxic)chemical-free.

2. Does The Farm Use Crop Rotation & Cover Crops?

Flax is traditionally reliant on crop rotation, so some European flax, for example, will have a cover crop like alfalfa which is used in rotation with flax before in order to feed the life below ground and protect the soil. Soil which is protected with plant life sequesters carbon, while soil left bare contributes to carbon's overpopulation in the atmosphere. 

3. Does The Farm Practice Dew Retting or Enzyme Retting?

After linen's 100-day growth period, the plant is harvested by pulling it from the root and laying it across the field. In regenerative agriculture, leaving roots in the ground is one of the principles, however, with linen, the whole plant must be harvested, so the rule slightly shifts as the process of extracting the linen feeds the microorganisms below the ground. 

The inner bark of the flax stem, which transports water into the living plant, is the part of the plant linen is spun from. To access that bark, the inner canal must be released from the 'glue' which holds it in place. To do this, the plant must be retted. Traditionally, this process is done through dew retting, where the pectins ('glue') is released through a combination of dew and sunshine over the course of a few weeks. 

Recently, enzyme retting, which is a similar process, has been developed. The idea with enzyme retting is to speed up the natural process and maintain higher consistency with the fibers. Enzyme retting is still sustainable, but dew retting is the most natural and traditional way, nature usually takes her time for a reason.

Finally, there's water retting, which is faster (about 5 days) but significantly less sustainable because the plant is removed from its natural habitat in the field (where it protects soil carbon and feeds microbes in the soil, reversing global warming) and is left to soak in the rivers or streams. This results in a high level of pollutants being released into the waterways, including agrochemicals if the flax has been grown non-organically, as well as excess plant matter which imbalances the eco-system. So try to avoid water-retted linen.

4. Is the linen its natural colour or dyed with plant-dyes?

During the retting process the fibre obtains its natural beige/ecru colour, just like wine, the amount of sun influences the colour so it can be more grey or more golden depending on the weather local to it during the retting process. If you're looking for linen in brighter colours, the best bet is to look for plant-dyed linen as conventional dyes, and even 'eco' dyes, wreak havoc on our ecosystems. You can learn more about the importance of plant-dyes HERE.

5. Has the linen been treated?

You want to avoid treated linen above all, if it says 'wrinkle-free' or 'wrinkle-resistant' it's been treated with formaldehyde, if it is 'stain-resistant' it's been made so with a chemical called PFOA which is carcinogenic.

ECO-FRIENDLY LINEN CLOTHING BRANDS

BO RAGE

regenerative linen by fibershed USA

Handknit and spun from local fiber, Bo Rage creates linen and wool garments from regenerative regional threads.

WHERE TO BUY? Fibershed Marketplace

LEMUEL MC 

upcycled  zero waste oeko-tex certified linen UK

This collection of made-to-order Oeko-Tex 100 certified linen garments for men and women are created by skilled seamstresses in London. Each piece is made with 100% linen deadstock fabric which would have otherwise ended up in the landfill had it not been saved. The brand offers free repairs for life and is female-owned.

WHERE TO BUY? Buy Me Once

THE SUMMER HOUSE 

sustainable affordable linen clothing for women INDIA

The Summer House effortlessly marries ethical production, sustainability and affordability into a touching trinity; eloquently embodying the artistry of fashion created slowly through conscious craftsmanship and pointed production that embraces a level of love and logic I’ve rarely seen. You can read more of my thoughts on them HERE.

WHERE TO BUY? thesummerhouse.in

RAWGANIQUES

sustainable organic linen clothing and underwear for men and women EU

Rawganics produces 100% organic linen underwear and clothing which are chemical-free, hypoallergenic, regenerative and ethically made in Europe. Their products are made in the USA, Canada and Europe, and are free of pesticides, GMO, dioxin, formaldehyde, PVC, toxic dyes and industrial chemicals.

WHERE TO BUY? USA Amazon.com EU Rawganique.com

ECO-FRIENDLY LINEN HOMEWARE BRANDS 

FINLAYSON

sustainable linen with a lifetime guarantee EU / UK

Finlayson has been creating high-quality luxury dew-retted organic linen bedding and textiles since the 1800s with an astounding 50-year warranty.

WHERE TO BUY? Buy Me Once UK / USA

MADE TRADE

sustainable linen homeware USA

Carrying various linen products, the best linen homeware brand Made Trade has on offer is by Area Home, who since 1990 has created high-quality homeware products made from OEKO tex certified organic linen which is grown and dew-retted in Lithuania.

WHERE TO BUY? madetrade.com

COYUCHI LINEN

sustainable linen homeware USA

Coyuchi creates linen homeware with 100% organic GOTS certified linen grown in France through a farmer's co-operative before being woven in India. Their supplier, Terre de Lin, uses alfalfa as a cover crop in rotation with flax, and the plant is dew-retted traditionally.

They also carry Climate Beneficial™ Wool items created in partnership with Fibershed. 

WHERE TO BUY? Coyuchi.com

REGENERATIVE LINEN FABRIC AND SUPPLIES

FABLE & BASE 

regeneratively grown local linen UK

Fable & Base print on natural dew-retted linen produced through Kent Cloth's regional fiber system, before being printed with natural plant dyes approved by The Soil Association UK. 

WHERE TO BUY? fableandbase.co.uk

CHICO FLAX

regeneratively grown regional linen yarn USA

Selling flax and wool blend yarn grown through regenerative agricultural production, Chico Flax produces regional fiber from flax grown in Northern California. Their dew-retted linen products are left undyed in their natural tones, and the seeds from the flax plant (which is not used in linen production), are passed onto local baker Dave Miller of Miller’s Bake House to complete the low waste process.

WHERE TO BUY? chicoflax.com/

** If you are you a regenerative or organic linen brand, producing with fiber that has been

dew-retted or enzyme retted, shoot me an email at hello at hollyrose.eco and I'll add you to this post **

** IF YOU FOUND THIS PIECE EDUCATIONAL, PLEASE CONSIDER A ONE-TIME OR MONTHLY DONATION TO MY PATREON ACCOUNT **

PHOTOS: MONIQUE PANTEL

Read more »

The Environmental Impact Of Halloween: What The Jack-O'-Lantern Story Says About Food Waste In Our Society

October 31, 2019

As the doorways of most homes in 'Northern America’ and parts of Europe are lit up by candlelight tonight, flickering through ghoulish grins, let each light make your mind burn bright in remembering the root of meaning these festivities once held for our species.

The Halloween we know today is a Christian colonial (and now capitalist) spin-off of the pagan festival Samhain, created to honour the harvest and usher in the dark half of the year where food would be scarce and held sacred. 

HALLOWEEN FOOD WASTE

Today our celebrations offer the opposite sentiment, and instead of honouring the seed, water, energy, land, and labour spent in the 140 days it takes to grow a pumpkin (half the time it takes to gestate a human baby), 85 percent of the pumpkin harvest we harbour, will be hollowed out to carve in ghoulish grins, before being chicked in the bin to rot.

In the UK alone (which barely celebrates Halloween) we grew enough pumpkins to feed the entire country - more than 8 million pumpkins – and we will put more than 18,000 tonnes of that edible vitamin-packed flesh to waste without a morsel of its meat tasted.

WHY FOOD WASTE IS A GLOBAL ISSUE
Food waste is a major contributor to global warming, responsible for roughly 8 percent of global emissions. A third of the food we raise or prepared does not make it from farm or factory to fork, squandering a whole host of resources which generate greenhouse gasses at every stage, including methane which is produced when organic matter lands in the landfill and has 20x the warming effect of carbon dioxide. 

Project Drawdown estimates that if 50 percent of food waste is reduced by 2050, avoided emissions could be equal to 26.2 gigatons of carbon dioxide - making it the THIRD most effective way of reversing global warming.

HOW TO GET HALLO WOKE WITH PUMPKIN RESCUE

1. EAT your pumpkin and it’s innards - there are plenty of pumpkin recipes online, I’ve got my top 10 favourite pumpkin recipes in an old blog post HERE

2. DONATE My friend Jessica Scott suggests donating your Jack-O'-Lantern your local animal sanctuary.

3. COMPOST if you're too lazy to cook, and can't find an animal shelter to donate to, hunt out your local compost to ensure its corpse contributes to positives rather than negatives in its demise.

4. BREW Toast Ale, the UK social enterprise which makes zero waste beer from surplus bread, have created a Belgian-style pumpkin dubbel using surplus squashes collected by volunteers of the Gleaning Network from local farms. They'll be partnering with Brewdog Tower Hill Outpost to brew the beer on the 4 November, launching on draught at six Brewdog bars across London on November 28th. Proceeds will go to Hubbub (who started the #PumpkinRescue campaign) to help fix our borken food system. If you've got a brew kit at home, they've shared their DIY Pumpkin Beer Recipe HERE so you can some neighbourly beer.

Read more »

Hope In The Face Of Climate Change

October 22, 2019

Amongst all the dark news on climate change and the chaos rising around it, it is important to remember this degeneration of land and culture is a fairly new thing on the grand scale of human existence on earth.

Modern humans have been around for 200,000 years, but we only began pillaging the earth around 12,000 years ago through our ignorant farming, systems and habits. The industrial revolution, which bolstered our great leap to the brink of extinction, only showed up to throw us further off track a few generations back.

95% of the time we have been on earth, we’ve lived in symbiosis with the natural world, a reality of existence long forgotten by most. Yet despite nearly constant violent oppression for hundreds of years, this knowledge and way of life is protected in the hearts and minds of Indigenous peoples around the world.

In learning this, along with the principles of building healthy soil, cultivating regenerative cultures, and embracing lessons of sacred ecology (all Traditional Ecological Knowledge / Indigenous Ecological Knowledge), I find hope.

Hope in the wisdom of minds who are training their brains to think critically and those journeys with vulnerability. Hope in the resilient rise of those oppressed by this world’s systems of supremacy. Hope in the possibility of a better world we’ve only just begun to (re)imagine and (re)build. Hope in daily acts of kindness, allyship and Love which are happening throughout the world.

Fredric Jameson said, “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism (and by proxy, colonialism)”, but we can, and we must, and it has to be now that we join forces, regardless of our beliefs and take collective action.

If we (mostly white peoples) are responsible for the cause of climate breakdown, capitalism and colonization, we are then capable and responsible for dismantling the continuation of these abuses as well.

Currently, 10% of the human population is responsible for 50% of carbon emissions and it is only the pattern of our daily lives that makes us believe we can do nothing to stop them. In reality, it only takes 3.5% of our population to overthrow what is and create what could be: a kinder, greener world, built with equality through regenerative reciprocity.

We are not governed by capitalism and colonialism; these systems are buttressed by us. As eco-anxiety and social justice issues rise rife, don’t push away. No one knows the perfect path nor solution to the fairer future that awaits us, it’s something we collectively, and imperfectly, create by changing our collective fictions. Enabling instead a human story that is written by those who hold the conscious wisdom of our forgotten past (indigenous peoples), amplified and supported by those who have lost their way (white peoples).

It is a story built from listening, learning, amplifying, acting, thinking, and sharing. Creating outside, but also with, the systems surround us. Remoulding with speed what was, into an ever-evolving web of what must come.

Embrace, lean in, and learn, share ideas, reflect on criticisms, delete defensiveness. Amplify others’ thoughts, you never know how far a seemingly small idea may ripple to a wave of discovery that changes everything as we know it.

Read more »

Alpaca Wool Is Ethical, Cruelty-Free, Sustainable, And Regenerative

October 09, 2019

True sustainable fashion, is actually regenerative fashion, and what movements like Fibershed are showcasing, is that with regional fiber systems that build healthy soil and protect the health of our biosphere, we can create clothing in a way that leaves the planet better off for the fact the creation has occured.

One such regenerative fashion fiber, though 'foreign', can be created with ethical alpaca wool. Alpaca wool is a noble fiber, gifted by gracious grazers whose kind have inhabited Peruvian lands for 40+ million years . They create the foundation of garments so beautifully pure and lovingly made, each piece acts as amorous armour to the outside world.⁣⁣
ETHICAL ALPACA
Gathered while the earth is in full bloom from alpacas kept as pets, the fibres are cleaned and spun before they’re traditionally knit. For a brand called Mantari (pictured), each alpaca item by the hands of 100 mothers working in their own homes in the Junín region of the Peruvian Amazon, supporting indigenous ways of life and protecting indigenous lands.

⁣SUSTAINABLE ALPACA

Undyed, yet exploding in a spectrum of whites, browns, beiges, and greys, they leave a small train of un-tainted water behind them ensuring the earth is not harmed in a garment's creation.⁣ The natural state of the fleece invites each piece to return to the earth from which they sprung when the garments they become have lived their lives.⁣ The process leaves waste wanting, as every inch fibre is respected and appreciated in a way long forgotten by our kind. ⁣

REGENERATIVE ALPACA

The alpaca who donate these fibers are nature’s perfect lawnmower, ‘ruminants’ they’re called, who eat less than most other domesticated animals and aid in the regeneration of the soil they wander on.

CRUELTY-FREEE ALPACA
To mistreat these conscious creatures would mean certain death to any business who hopes to benefit from their generous gifts, as they cannot thrive or produce fleece without the love and companionship of their kin and those who mind them. ⁣

Read more »