Linen story from plant to fabric, raw material to fabric

Planting process-from seeds to fibers

Seeds selection

A few months before planting, French Normandy linen farmers will choose the most suitable flax varieties for growing according to the climate and the soil quality of the plots, and strive to meet the high resistance, and finally harvest high-yield and abundant long-fiber flax.

Sowing

Sowing (between March 15 and April 15)
On the world's top flax planting belt, farmers have strict requirements for sowing: follow natural farming methods, and plant approximately 2,000 seeds per square meter on plots with sufficient recuperation and fertile growth after crop rotation.

Flowering (June)

Flax needs 100 days to grow to about 1 meter and bloom. It grows on its soft stem and can only bloom for a few hours. However, within a few weeks, the coast of Normandy will show a blue sea of ​​flowers, like ocean waves. The wind swings.

Harvest (July to August)

Harvesting can begin when about 1/3 of the leaves at the bottom of the flax are lost. In order to obtain the complete fiber length, the harvester needs to uproot it (rather than cutting), spread it out in the ground, and accept retting for about 15 days. . Different farmers and different plots have their own strict harvest time points to ensure the maturity of the fiber and achieve uniform quality. Almost all blue linen here is delicate, tough and even.

Retting (August)

The transformation from plant to fiber requires natural separation of the epidermis, pectin layer and intermediate lignin, all of which is left to the mother of nature. Under the repeated action of sunlight and rain and dew, the microorganisms begin to ferment, causing the fibers to gradually fall off the skin and wood stalk core, presenting a natural mottled rice ash, and only then is there a linen treasure that the industry talks about-Yulu linen; produced in Europe The fiber is very delicate, and the linen farmer takes care of the degree of retting in the retting to make it uniform.

Flap linen

Without high-quality linen and broken stems, high-quality yarns cannot be spun. The high-quality crops are sent to the processing plant, where they are separated from the epidermis and lignin into linen. The whole process does not use any chemical substances, and is realized purely mechanically and physically, reducing the impact on the environment. Linen fibers need to undergo strict sensory evaluation to divide them into 9 different grades.
*Mainly based on: natural properties (softness, gloss, density), color, strength, fineness, uniformity, cleanliness and other indicators to comprehensively consider.

Packed in bundles

The linen is made into a round roll packaging*. The linen can be wrapped together in even layers, labelled, and note the production year, farmer code, weight, linen year and date and time, bar code, etc. details. EUROPEAN FLAX® realizes the same goods certificate in export to ensure the traceability of fiber from the source to the processing quality.
*Reduce the processing time of the carding machine and improve work efficiency.

Spinning process-from flax to yarns

Where is the hope of the world flax industry?
"The hope of the world's flax industry lies in China. China's flax industry can create a new market, which can not only increase the world's flax consumption. But also make noble flax products play a greater role in meeting consumer needs. We believe that China has enough strength to create enough added value to bring the flax industry to the next level."
—— Frederick Duch, President of the European Flax and Linen Federation
Leaving the magical land of Normandy, with the identity of EUROPEAN FLAX®, most of them were sent to China. Started another life journey that has undergone magical transformation. Such an excellent fiber raw material, whether it is fiber length, splitting degree, and strength, is the best. The color uniformity is also due to other linen producing areas, so it is not difficult to understand that our yarns are both in appearance and internal physical properties. So different. Of course, this will inevitably be inseparable from our long-term partners Jinda Holdings, Golden Eagle Group and other companies in terms of processing and textile experience, continuous innovation and environmental protection efforts. Only by making it stronger (up to 2 times that of cotton and 3 times that of wool) can it be woven into a cleaner and durable fabric. As time goes by, more technical research results make it more valuable.

• Raw material inspection

  When the raw materials enter the factory, experienced workers will conduct strict inspections on the fineness, uniformity and parallelism of each bundle of imported linen, aiming to provide perfect materials for the subsequent process;

• sorting

  Unwrap the linen bundles, then place the linen bundles in rows on the ground, sort them according to their quality, and send them to the wooden corrugated board in the humidification chamber to start the baptism process of humidification and health preservation;

• Health

  The moisture regain of the flax fiber is low, the flexibility is insufficient, and it cannot be carded and spun directly. By layering and humidifying the linen, the top is covered, and the bottom is ventilated for health, so that it is stacked for 18 to 24 hours for health. Excellent health care improves fiber strength and softness, prevents excessive breakage in the subsequent carding, increases fiber length, and improves linen production rate.

• Beam splitting

  Divide the beaten linen into small bundles of a certain diameter and weight, keep the diameter in the range of 2.6-2.8cm, pick out ultra-short fibers, linen, linen chips and other debris according to color and length to keep the fiber pure and uniform. Make the quality more stable;

• Comb

  After dividing the bundles, they need to be combed in a comb comber, separated into finer craft fibers, and combed into longer and stronger linen strips. The finer the linen fibers, the more they can meet the requirements of high-quality textiles. The combed flax is softer, tougher, and lustrous. All this is inseparable from experienced workers. From the consistency of the linen bundle in the linen holder to the timely selection of the uncombed linen, the passion and experience are the The guarantee of the birth of high-quality linen.

• Into strips

  If combing long flax to turn into spun yarn perfectly, the quality is the key! In addition to imported sliver machining, experienced and dedicated workers have become the guarantee for the continuous and uniform structure of long linen slivers of fine chemical fibers;

• Draw

  Combine the linen sliver to improve the unevenness of the long segments of the linen sliver, so that the thick and thin sections of the sliver have a chance to overlap with each other, and use the drafting method to further split and comb the linen sliver to split into finer craft fibers. Only by combing out small impurities and removing some short fibers can we leave the high quality long linen fiber we need;

• Roving

  Flax spinning is more difficult than cotton spinning. The molecular arrangement of flax cellulose is more linear, relying on accompanying organisms to stick together, unlike cotton cellulose, which can be helically entangled. Spinning linen requires experience. It not only requires pure mechanical processing of the fiber without adding chemicals and no spinning oil, but also with the help of a unique wet spinning process to adapt to the moisture regain and strength of the flax fiber in the wet. The proper twist becomes a flax roving;

• Boil and bleach

  Both short linen roving and long linen roving need to be scoured and bleached to enter the next wet spinning process. The five-step process of pickling, sub-bleaching, water washing, oxygen bleaching, and water washing is used to deeply remove residual lignin and pectin. Spinning, increase the degree of fiber splitting, increase the fiber strength of the roving, and reduce the rate of spun yarn breakage;

• Spun yarn

  As one of the most important processes of flax yarn, high-quality flax yarn is a perfect combination of advanced equipment, leading technology and rich experience. Our partners are based on intelligent spinning equipment, modern management, and intelligent blessing. Under the three major functions of drafting, twisting, and winding, flax yarn greatly reduces end breaks and defects. It is predicted that the strength of a certain section of the yarn is unstable, and the laser automatically cuts it, and then undergoes an excellent splicing process to ensure the tenacity and strength of the yarn, and also makes the later linen more durable;

• drying

  The linen yarn from the wet spinning machine is rich in moisture and is not conducive to storage, so it needs to go through drying to remove the excess moisture, presenting a perfect wet and dry form, which is convenient for storage and smoothness of the next process;

• Color separation

  After drying, the spun yarns are finely screened by the yarn selector. The yarn ears of the same color are gathered under the same count. After the yarn selection is completed, the information label, count, public number, duty and The number of bobbins, etc. Separation is not only a sharp eye, but also good care of flax yarn;

• Doffing

  The dried spun yarn bobbin is re-wound onto the bobbin to form a bobbin with a larger capacity, which is convenient for sale, transportation and storage;

• Test

  Inspection workers use advanced equipment to measure the quality data of the yarn and compare it with the international count standard to determine whether it is qualified. Qualified yarn branches are placed and labeled in order of color and grade to ensure traceability;

• Package

  The yarns that meet the standards are packaged with a packaging machine, put into the packing bag one by one, sealed, and finally packed and weighed into the warehouse, and the information is registered for easy sales and transportation;

The rough and messy linen, through multiple mechanized processing and strict quality control, has become an ingot of fine hair, pure white and holy art. It condenses our important partners Jinda Holdings, Golden Eagle Group, Changzhou Meiyuan and other powerful brands for ten years of continuous pursuit of high standards, helping us to lay a solid foundation for the quality of our fabrics.

Weaving process-from yarn to greige

Excellent linen fabrics will make people feel more heart-pounded, that soft and waxy hand feel, with the touch of nature. We have an intimate relationship with a living material like flax over time. From one ingot to one horse, every process and every link is our memory of the habits of flax fiber. From the warping, sizing to the machine, we choose the best Italian rapier looms to be gentle, and finally show in the texture and appearance, so that the linen grey fabric can live up to the glory of the queen of natural fibers.
"I like linen because it is a noble fabric with unlimited possibilities."
-Giorgio Armani

• Yarn inspection

  For those exciting fabrics, yarn is a new starting point. Therefore, at the beginning of the yarn entering the factory, it must undergo strict inspections, from the appearance and re-inspection of the MIL-STD-105E standard, to the average value of the internal quality strict compliance with the national standard sampling inspection, yarn twist, twist direction, structure As well as breaking force and elongation, each index determines the texture of the subsequent fabric, so it will be reviewed level by level and checked at each level;

• Sizing

  Sizing is a necessary process and technology before weaving. The warp yarn passes through the sizing liquid, and then is pressed, dried, and wound into a weaving shaft. Even if it is finished, the warp yarn is smoother and tougher after sizing, which greatly reduces the yarn breakage rate on the loom;

• Warping

  The warp yarns of a certain number and length are drawn from the winding spool to form a yarn sheet, so that the warp yarns have uniform tension, and are closely wound parallel to each other on the warping shaft, making preliminary preparations for forming the weaving shaft;

• Reed

  The reeding process needs to be done manually. The conventional number of warp yarns is 3000-4000. Workers need to pay great patience to thread the single linen yarn into the reed one by one;

• Weaving

  The yarns that meet the standards are packaged with a packaging machine, put into the packing bag one by one, sealed, and finally packed and weighed into the warehouse, and the information is registered for easy sales and transportation;

• Test

  Because linen yarn has more hairiness and uneven texture, the woven linen may have problems such as linen particles and weaving defects. Therefore, the cloth surface needs to be inspected and then handed over to the repairer to complete the repair. The task of blank inspection is to determine the quality level of the off-machine gray fabric according to certain standards based on physical indicators and appearance defects;

• Trim

  Linen fabric undergoes multiple strict quality inspections of one meter by one meter. If necessary, defects will be repaired by hand to ensure the output of each high-quality fabric;

• Secondary inspection

  After finishing the linen cloth, it still needs to go through about 20 tests such as weight, width, hand feel, oblique weft, color fastness, thickness, etc. The strict four-point system is adopted to ensure the quality of each piece of linen grey cloth;

• Package

  The "grey cloth" woven at this time is jerky and rigid, and cannot be directly applied to the development of clothing and home textiles. However, the embryonic form of linen fabric has emerged, showing different qualities depending on the count and twist. In order to ensure the cleanliness and quality of the grey fabrics, the inspected grey fabrics must be preserved through rolling, packaging, and finally transported to another finishing processing plant.

• Whether it is fiber processing, spinning, or weaving, we insist on restoring the authentic quality of fiber by mechanical processing, and strive for perfection in every link, and finally the delivery of the next process will have excellent quality. Perhaps it is precisely because of this persistence that we get together with European flax and the world-renowned excellent flax textile suppliers in China to establish intimate relationships with changes in the light and attract more end brands that pursue quality.