History of Linen

History of linen can surprise and even shock. Who would have thought that Napoleon Bonaparte influenced the linen fabrics.

It was March 1810. Nobody else, but the emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to strengthen the country’s textile industry. At that time he just proposed to Marie-Louise of Austria, who later became his wife. More changes were coming. Several industries did not work efficiently, like the textile one. So… he came up with an idea of offering a huge reward to a person who would invent a linen spinning machine. Consequently, the person would receive 1 million francs in gold. (1 US Dollar was about 5,5 francs back then, which means, that 1 million francs was about 160 thousand US dollars).

The reward that became a trouble

They broadcasted the reward on the 12 of March, and just two months later, Philippe de Girard had a solution. Unfortunately, the times were rough, and the man who came up with a solution to the puzzle, was not the luckiest. He was so sure of the win, that he borrowed money to build textile mills. Often we judge others based on who we are, and not always it is the best way. He simply thought, that if someone says something, it must be true. But it was not so.

All because in 1812 French invaded Russia, and so big history influenced the history of linen. By then nobody remembered about the competition. Philippe de Girad, left without the reward and ended in prison for his debts…

XX century is all grateful to Philippe de Girad

In XX century, the linen textiles are highly valued all around the world. Yet, the flax fibers represent only about 1% of all fibers the farmers and companies produce worldwide. According to “the masters of linen”, 80% of linen fibers come from Europe, especially from France.

The archeologists found this especially long-lived fabrics in the tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs. The Egyptian priests wrapped in linen the body of Pharaoh Ramses II, (who died in 1213 BC). Not surprisingly, the fabrics survived to our times in good state.

36 000 years old

Yet, even 3000 years ago is not the earliest date that we associate with the first appearance of linen textiles. As Wikipedia proclaims:

“Linen textiles appear to be some of the oldest in the world: their history goes back many thousands of years. Fragments of straw, seeds, fibers, yarns, and various types of fabrics dating to about 8000 BC have been found in Swiss lake dwellings. Dyed flax fibers found in a prehistoric cave in Georgia suggest the use of woven linen fabrics from wild flax may date back even earlier to 36,000 BP.

BP means Before Present. It is one of time scales used, where “present” means the year 1950.”

Benefits of linen

Nowadays, with the growth of global usage of pesticides, people turn their attention to organic fabrics. Among them, the experts and users see linens to be not only long-lived, but also very healthy. Read about the benefits of linen. Among the greatest benefits of the fabric are : breathability, it is anti-allergic.

The regular fabrics, like the cottons, seen as healthy, turn out to be the opposite. Just the cotton alone, uses over 16% of global usage of pesticides during its production. In the end, the material can even cause cancer. Read more about the cotton in our article

What touches our skin, goes through it. In hot weather especially, it absorbs the tiny particles of the fibers of the fabrics. We hope you choose the organic fabrics.

Links of reference

Masters of Linen