You have certainly heard of ramie. But do you actually know what kind of material ramie is?
Ramie is a stinging nettle plant that comes from China and can get up to 20 years old. Almost 50% of this plant is grown in China, the rest comes from Brazil and the USA. Due to its sensitivity to frost, it’s impossible for it to grow in Germany.
Ramie is resistant against most pests and displaces many weeds.
But the production of ramie is more costly than cotton, linen or hemp and a chemical lye is necessary to separate the plant fibres for further processing which is why ramie has hardly any industrial use.
One advantage of ramie is that it doesn’t have to be bleached because its fibres are already pure white which makes ramie ideal for colouring. Due to the chemical exposure, the fibres become shiny which is why ramie often gets mixed with other materials to make them more silky or shiny.
Properties of ramie:
- Shiny
- Great to colour
- Durable
- Linen-like
-Regrowing
- Fine and light
- Absorbent
- Susceptible to wrinkling (not as much as linen)
