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Our love affair with linen

Our aim is to create garments that are made to last and gentle on both your skin and the planet - which is why we chose linen for our pieces.

It’s made to last

Linen is one of the world’s oldest textiles, valued for centuries for its durability, breathability, and luxurious feel.

Naturally resilient, it softens beautifully over time, becoming even more comfortable with wear.

When cared for well, linen rewards with exceptional longevity as well as temperature-regulating, moisture-wicking, and breathable properties that make it especially well-suited to sensitive skin. It is also naturally resistant to moths and less prone to retaining bacteria.

For guidance on how to care for your piece, visit our care guide.

It's kind to our planet

Linen is made of flax - some call it the cactus of all textile plants. Flax is a cute, blue flower that thrives in dry soil and often on marginal land - meaning its cultivation doesn't compete with land used for growing food.

Despite its gentle appearance, flax is an incredibly resilient crop. It is almost entirely rainwater-sufficient and requires far fewer pesticides and fertilisers than many other textile crops to flourish. Flax is also considered regenerative, as it is commonly grown in rotation with food crops, helping to restore nutrients to the soil while supporting healthy ecosystems and biodiversity.

Even better, flax is native to Europe, allowing our linen to be produced closer to home and helping reduce carbon emissions through shorter transportation routes.

In comparison, a linen shirt uses 6.4 litres of water across its lifecycle compared to 2700 litres for one cotton shirt.

It's a zero-waste product

Not only does linen biodegrade within as little as two weeks to 6.5 months, but it's also a zero-waste product as all parts of the flax plant can be used.

Whilst the fibers are turned into textiles for clothing, interior or paper, the flax seeds are used for animal feeding or to make wood varnish oils.

It's temperature-regulating

You may already know linen as the perfect travel companion - effortlessly cool on warm summer days, breathable against the skin, and capable of absorbing moisture without ever feeling damp. What is less widely known is that linen is naturally temperature-regulating.

The same fibres that keep you cool in the heat also retain warmth when the air turns crisp.

Our Certified Linens

The linen used for our garments is crafted from Masters of linen™-certified linen - one of the most prestigious certifications in European textiles.

This mark guarantees full traceability and European production, meaning every stage - from the flax fibre to spinning, weaving, and finishing - takes place within the EU.

Our Casa pieces, including the Gratitude napkins, are made from linen carrying the Masters of Flax-Fibre™ certification, which confirms that the flax itself is cultivated according to the highest European agricultural standards.

All of our linen fabrics are also certified under the OEKO-TEX® Standard 100, meaning they have been tested for harmful substances and are safe from a human-ecological perspective.

To ensure both quality and traceability, we source our linen exclusively from the European Union, primarily from Belgium, Lithuania, and Austria. This allows us to support European craftsmanship, skilled jobs, fair wages, and responsible working conditions - while also keeping transportation routes shorter and our carbon footprint lower.

European linen is widely regarded as one of the most environmentally responsible textile fibres. Flax grows naturally in the temperate coastal regions of Western Europe - from Normandy to the Netherlands - where centuries of agricultural expertise and the local climate produce some of the highest-quality flax in the world.

Cultivating Masters of Flax-Fibre™ flax requires no additional irrigation, relies almost entirely on natural rainfall, and uses no GMOs. The fibre is extracted through natural field retting and mechanical scutching processes, resulting in minimal environmental impact. Even better, flax cultivation is a zero-waste process, with every part of the plant used.

In case you want to know more about our materials and our supply chain, get in touch via hola@arkitaip.com. We look forward to hearing from you!