It is a wonder that most people don’t know about linen, even if you’re reading this article. Most probably, you’re listening to the word “linen’ for the first time. There are hundreds of clothing materials out there on the market like cotton, khaddar, and wash&wear that are popularly known for making apparel. A few decades ago, linen was also one of them. But, after the invention of some synthetic fabrics like wash&wear and other synthetic materials, the buying of linen in the clothing industry has decreased massively.
The making of linen is highly time-consuming and more complex than any other fabric, and that’s why people buy linen in limited quantities. Another drawback of linen is that linen dresses are likely to be much heavier than cotton and wash&wear. As a result, the use of linen in clothing starts decreasing from time to time. In ancient times it was so popular that linen was used as a coffin wrap to wrap mummies in it. However, in today’s times, linen is used as the most durable and long-lasting fabric material compared to any other fabric. Now, 80% of towels, bedding materials, and other hotel amenities are always made up of linen.
Why only linen? There are many other fabrics out there that manufacturers can choose from, but why do manufacturers buy linen for hospitality products? We’ll talk about it later! In this article, we will write an ultimate guide on everything you need to know about linen. So let’s get into it!
Linen Composition
Linen is a sustainable material made up of flax-fibers. Flax is a plant that is harvested to make linen fabric. This plant has been cultivated in the world for 36,000 years. Still, there’s a considerable demand for flax farming in the world. People usually buy linen for hotel amenities such as beddings, napkins, blankets, and towels. However, it is still also used to make some dresses such as winter jackets, jerseys, and women’s tops and shirts. Compared with other materials, linen is the most difficult to manufacture fabric and has the most time-consuming manufacturing process.
First of all, the flax plant is planted in a cool climate and harvested after 100 days approximately.
- Then the fibers, leaves, and stems of the plants are separated from each other. The flax fiber is also located in the branches of the plant. You can also say it as “retting.”
- The fibers are then separated from stem and plant, and the remaining are sent for other purposes such as paper and chlorophyll extraction.
- The fibers are then spun on a farm to make the fiber sticks stuck with each other temporarily till the textile factory opens it.
- In the final stage, the textile factory uses these fibers and forms them into a fabric material called “linen,” where it is used to make clothes and other things that require linen fabric.
Types of Linen
Unlike their clothing fabrics, linen comes in various forms, and every type is used to produce a dedicated textile product. Below we’ve mentioned some of the most popular types of linen widely used in the textile industry.
Standard Linen: The most used form of linen. We’ve mentioned the one in the above sections—known for its durability, toughness, and an incredible amount of water-absorbent.
Damask Linen: This type of linen is commonly used in apparel such as tops, kameez, and trousers. Moreover, they are also used in upholstery such as sofa phishing, embroidery napkins, and tablecloths for hotels and restaurants.
Plain woven Linen: PVL is most usually used to make kitchen and hotel linens such as napkins and tableware. Today, it is more commonly used to manufacture butcher or cooking aprons. Since it holds a water-absorbent efficiency of up to 70%, that is why it is perfect for kitchen wares.
Loosely woven linen: LWL is not as durable and strong as other types of linen but contains the maximum absorbent efficiency in all different fabrics, up to 80%. Usually, people buy this linen to make reusable diapers and women sanitary pads.
Sheeting Linen: You can buy this linen to make apparel because of its un-textured appearance. Sheeting fabric is also commonly used in hotel linens, such as dusting cloths, kitchen wear, tablecloths, etc.
Linen in hospitality products
For the past few decades, most linen in the world is used to produce hospitality amenities such as linen towels, tablecloths, aprons, napkins, bed sheets, blankets, and other products that fall in the hospitality niche. There are numerous reasons to choose linen fabric in hotel products. First of all, it is far more durable than cotton or any other material, a good conductor of heat (close to wool), holds antibacterial characteristics, and highly absorbent fabric. All these qualities make this fabric ideal in hospitality products. Below we’ve mentioned some of the most popular advantages of using linen in hotel amenities and products:
Durability
It is not wrong to say that linen is one of the most durable and robust fabrics ever discovered in history. Due to this quality of linen, it is widely used to manufacture public products such as table cloths, aprons, restaurant napkins, and hotel amenities. Furthermore, unlike cotton and any other fabric, linen is difficult to tear off, doesn’t lose its durability from time, nor loses its color. Therefore, many manufacturers buy linen for hospitality products and hotel amenities.
Better absorbent
Linen is considered the most absorbent fabric after cotton balls. Cotton balls have the efficacy to absorb up to 95% of liquid. Whereas linen holds the efficiency to absorb up to 70% of the juice in it, cotton can absorb up to 45% of liquid. In hospitality products, the use of water-absorbent fabrics is also essential such as towels, mops, napkins, and other amenities. But, of course, you can’t use cotton balls, and cotton fabrics are not sound absorbent. That is why linen is perfect in this case!
Good Insulator of Heat
In all the fabrics, linen is the #1 conductor of heat and cold. It is majorly due to the reason it is made from flax fibers. Flax plant fibers can reflect the heat and cold efficiently better than any other naturally existing plant. That’s why most of the linen-made apparel and clothes are inherently good insulators. As a result, most blankets, bedsheets, and quilts are made from linen fabric, and people usually buy linen fabric for such textiles.
Moreover, there are many other textile industries where linen is used, such as ice cover in villages with no refrigeration source. Therefore, the insulation also depends on the composition of cloth made from linen. If the design is saturated and dense, the insulation will be better. Whereas, in light and un-saturated composition, of course, the insulation will not be good.
The symbol of Luxury
One of the definitions of luxury is that ”the product that takes time to produce and effort is known as luxury”. Linen is one of the few fabrics that takes relatively much more time than any other fabric. The manufacturing of linen is considerably tricky compared to any different fabric. This is why linen is considered the symbol of luxury in both apparel and miscellaneous clothes.
History of Linen
The history of linen is not new. People used this fabric in textile thousands of years ago. You can also say that this fabric is one of the oldest fabrics being used in the textile industry. A few years ago, dyed flax fibers were found in a prehistoric cave in Georgia. This research shows that linen has been used in the textile industry for at least 36,000 years. Straw, fiber, seeds, yarn, and various other pieces of fabric have also been discovered in the Swiss lakes that date back to about 8000 BC. Ancient Egypt used linen as a coffin wrap in royal families to cover the mummies and bury them inside the pyramid. It is because linen was a symbol of light, luxuriance, purity, and wealth. It is so valued in ancient times that people use linen as trading currency in some countries. At that time, linen value was close to gold, silver, and diamond because, in that era, it was challenging to produce and convert into textile. But today, due to technology, the manufacturing of linen isn’t that hard compared to past ancient times.
Conclusion
Today, linen is widely used for hospitality products. There are numerous reasons why hotel owners highly prefer linen for their hotel amenities and hospitality products. Whether it’s a towel, apron, blanket, bedsheets, quilts, or napkins, most of these linens are made from linen. However, this fabric is also used in apparel like women’s tops and simple shirts. But 70% of linen fiber is only consumed in hospitality products. People buy linen for hospitality products for many reasons. We’ve mentioned some of them to you.
Investlogix can buy quality Hospitality Linen for you from our contracted factories at great rates. Please write to us about your Linen requirement and our friendly team will revert to you with great options.
