A technology that converts hemp-based fibres into yarns and fabrics suitable for apparel is being expanded to use flax as its raw material – offering a cost-effective alternative to cotton, its developers say.
Naturally Advanced Technologies Inc is behind the Crailar process, which turns straw-like hemp fibres into white fibres similar to organic cotton using a patented enzyme bath. It has now turned its attention to the use of flax fibres as the foundation for the technology – including planting 300 acres of fibre-variety flax in Kingstree, South Carolina as part of the initiative.
“This is an industry first,” said CEO Ken Barker. “With cotton prices currently at 90 to 93 cents per pound, flax is a cost-effective raw material for fibre production. The productivity of our process using flax is twice as efficient as it is with hemp, yielding nearly twice as much usable fibre after going through the Crailar process.
“Our recent spinning trials with Crailar-processed flax have been highly successful, which further validates the feasibility of flax as a practical, economically viable complement to cotton.”
Flax is easy to grow with minimal use of herbicides, pesticides and engineered irrigation and is abundant in the US and Canada, which significantly reduces costs from a supply-chain perspective as compared to other natural fibres.
The Crailar process can also be used with the stalk portion of the oilseed flax plant – traditionally cultivated for food and industrial applications – which would normally be discarded during processing.
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By GlobalDataIt bathes bast fibres in a proprietary enzyme wash to remove the binding agents from flax that contribute to its stiff texture. This process transforms them into soft, yet strong and durable textile fibres, which can be used in both fashion and industrial applications.
The resulting fibres are said to have the comfort and breathability of cotton, with the strength, moisture-wicking properties and shrink-resistance of sturdy bast fibres. Flax can be spun on existing machinery to produce a yarn that can be used alone or blended with other fibres.
