Why Irish Linen?

 

  1. Well firstly, and obviously, it’s made in Ireland! Northern Ireland to be precise, which has a long and illustrious history of linen production. Our mill, William Clark & Sons, is the oldest surviving linen mill in Northern Ireland, and is one of seven members of the Irish Linen Guild, an organisation that strives to preserve the quality of Irish linen. It sources our linen locally from an accredited Master of Linen. This means that all the fabric printed and dyed by our mill can be traced from field, to yarn spinner, to weaver, all within Europe, ensuring that it is produced ethically and sustainably, respecting the environment
  2. Linen has fantastic thermoregulatory properties, ideal for keeping cool in summer and warm in winter
  3. It has a lovely natural lustre, especially when softened over time
  4. Like wine and women, it gets better with age
  5. Linen fibres are naturally resistant to pesky moths and carpet beetles
  6. It has no lint or pilling tendencies
  7. It looks great even, or especially, when you don’t iron it
  8. It’s tough. Our linen yarn comes from European flax, known for its superior strength
  9. Flax has a short growing season, taking 100 days to grow from seed to harvest, and requires 13 times less pesticide to grow than the potato [Had to get that in. I’m Irish after all]
  10. Our linen is naturally broken down (retted) in the fields before it is scutched to extract the flax fibre
  11. Linen uses considerably less water to produce than cotton
  12. Raw flax, fibre and yarn travel short distances before being woven into our beautiful linen
  13. No GMO, no waste. Flax is remarkably versatile. You can eat the seeds, make oil, rope or, as the ancient Egyptians did, paper, and even use its tough tow fibres as upholstery filling
  14. It’s vegan friendly
  15. It’s 100% biodegradable
  16. You can leave it to your grandchildren
  17. If you love it, it loves you right back