Linen T-shirts for Men Made in France: ethical and eco-responsible

Linen: The eco-responsible material par excellence for your ethical men's t-shirts

Linen is grown in France without watering or pesticides and then manufactured in the south-west of France.

The cultivation of flax: the sowing and the flowering period.

Flax needs a temperate and humid climate. This climate is found in northern France: for example, in Normandy and Seine et Marne.

Flax is sown between March and April. To obtain high quality flax, a six-year crop rotation must be maintained between each flax crop.

The plant rises for about 100 days, after which the flowering period begins.

Only for a few hours you can see the flax flower, because it is ephemeral. It is a very beautiful blue flower that is magical. At this time, the flax reaches its maximum size.

What is the uprooting and rotting?

To best preserve the fibers, the flax farmer pulls the fibers out of the ground. This step occurs 5 weeks after flowering, often in July. The flax is ready to "rot" when yellowing is evident on the entire stalk. The uprooted stalks are deposited in windrows on the ground.

The rotting takes place between July and September. Under the influence of rain and sun, the flax begins to rot: microorganisms in the soil decompose the outer stalk of the flax. The flax must be turned several times to allow even rotting.

Hulling, combing and spinning

Beating off is a mechanical process that does not require water and separates the fibers used for textiles from the flax straw.

It is a crucial step as the fibers are sorted and combed into a uniform ribbon of fibers of equal length and fineness. It requires experience and expertise from the people who perform it.

Wet spinning or dry spinning? Dry spinning is reserved for short fibers such as cotton.

For linen, the wet spinning process used by our supplier Safilin is used: Before actual spinning, the combed fiber slivers are stretched and blended several times to obtain a uniform roving. The combed flax fibers are stretched and divided to achieve fineness, and twisted in 60° to 70° hot water to better divide the fibers and obtain a finer yarn. Then the final tension is applied. This process requires special machines and a certain know-how.

Knitting, dyeing and making up - the steps to create the fabric and your t-shirt.

Where other manufacturers switch back and forth between knitting, dyeing and making up:

Everything happens without transportation between steps, because everything is made in the same place: at our partner in Pau.

We have been using linen for our T-shirts since 2017. That's when we revived knitting stitches for linen t-shirts in France with our partner Lepère. Your t-shirt is knitted on old looms....

The best quality yarn for your men's linen t-shirt!

The linen for your Aatise t-shirt grows 95% in France, the rest comes from Belgium and Holland.

The northern French climate and centuries-old craftsmanship cannot be "delocalized".

Linen from France is known to be one of the best, the fiber is long and rare, as there is only a certain area of cultivation per year.

 Your t-shirt made of linen is environmentally friendly because :

* It saves water:

Flax does not need to be irrigated to grow: the oceanic climate of northern France is ideal to grow without water supply: while 1 kg of cotton requires between 5,000 and 17,000 liters, a T-shirt requires about 2,500 liters. In contrast, 1 kg of flax requires only about 3000 l (with processing), or 750 l. Saving 1800 l for a single T-shirt.

* It binds CO2:

Growing flax allows the roots to remain in the soil to enrich and aerate the soil. The roots additionally bind CO2 in the soil, retaining an average of 3.7 tons of CO2 in the soil.

* It is waste-free:

There is nothing that is lost, everything can be used by the plant: No waste is produced when the fibers are processed, everything can be used: Linseed, linseed oil, shives (the fragments of the straws) for garden mulch or animal bedding. The thermo-regulating properties of flax make it a good insulating material, used in construction for the production of flat wool and chipboard.

* And finally the fiber is compostable at the end of life:

We use Oekotex certified cotton yarn to make your t-shirt. There is no label on your piece and it is therefore "compostable" at the end of its life.

Don't forget: The greenest t-shirt in the world is the one you will use for years?

By following the washing instructions you can extend the life of your linen t-shirt.