 History and present Flax is the fibre-plant which used to be the main clothing-fibre since European people have settled. It was out-competed by the emergence of cotton during the last century. Even until the 19th century the southern parts of Germany, in particular the Swabian and Allgäu region, has been the main flax–production and processing area for all kinds of linen and the main producer for linen clothing. Linen production has brought wealth to many villages and towns and has made them famous throughout Europe as distributors for South German linen. Flax and linen influenced the culture of people in their daily life. This is still noticeable by looking at stories, legends and even some slang words. For instance the German word "flachsen" was a slang word for “having fun”, telling the “blue of the sky” is a synonym for stories that are very far from the truth. “without flax” to express something is true, the expression a “joyride into the blue” with someone means, if the flax is in bloom and the level of the sun is high, it seems like viewing the blue sea. Linen has an enormous tensile strength, up to three times as high as cotton. Its well known long lifespan underlines this. Also its excellent moisture-regulation speaks on behalf of linen. Perspiration is picked up easily and is easily given away again. Linen doesn't become saturated like a washrag. In the summer it therefore has a cooling effect. It also has the lowest allergic potential of all textile-fibres, which makes it very skin-amicable - also for people who tend to have allergies. It has a smooth surface with a particular shine, due to the very long fibres, which are normally spun with the flax. Finally, after many trials, the reintroduction of linen-cultivation in Southern Germany is more or less a project in the Hessian Rhön. It all has gone and there is no flax-processing industry anymore in Germany. We now continue an old tradition, representing the basics of the craft of the Swabian Alb linen-weavers from the past, with our organic project in flax-cultivation. Flax and linen from controlled organic cultivation Due to our understanding of the need for sustainability in the clothing-industry, we at LICHTSCHATZ PROJEKTE devote ourselves to the cultivation of controlled organically grown flax and its processing to high-quality linen-yarn without pesticide use or chemical processing-methods. Because the cultivation of flax is unrealistically expensive in Germany and the German official agriculture boards offer no or insufficient subsidizations for innovative agrar-economy we have chosen to follow our goals in other European countries. For instance we maintain purchase-contacts to French farmers and scutching and finance a completely independent project in the polders of the Netherlands. We keep an eye on ecological-sustainability aspects along the process, starting with the cultivation, the transportation-logistics and finally the fullfilment of all aspects concerning control and certif- ication. It is a fact that the conventional linen-cultivation is not able to cultivate without the use of chemicals and synthetic methods. (please find more details on our web page). Cultivation and processing-management The processing of this ancient plant flax in Europe could be an example for an ecological amicable and successful regional-economy. A prerequisite for this is the fitting of the flax-plant with rich fertility in the agricultural crop/fruit-rotation,because it is only possible to plant flax every seven years on one field. A possible mono-culture, that is given in conventional flax-cultivation, excludes so by itself. The weed-regulation takes place in mechanical way. An environmental-burden of nitrogen-fertiilization doesn't occur because the flax as single culture-plant doesn't tolerate any nitrogen. The cultivation of this culture-plant flax , proofed over millennia, brings advantages of nitrogen-fertilization at the relief of the groundwater through total renuncuation. Flax is unopposed with it under the present-day culture-plants. Furthermore it withdraws CO2 from the atmosphere not only in short-term like the so-called energy-plants, but binds CO2 through the manufacturing of long-life products also in long-terms. For ex.: with textiles! Flax can therefore make a valuable contribution to the protection of the climate. The flax-fibres are spunnen into linen-yarn after scutching and then get processed from regional textile manufactures on the Swabian Alb to knitwears and to clothing-textiles. We deliver from the ECO-LINO - project:
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