The French cooperative LINportant, created last November, has set itself the task of cultivating an organic flax fiber in France to make T-shirts that respect people and the environment. Its managing director Paul Boyer, met at the Avantex trade fair dedicated to textile innovation, explained more to Le Boudoir Numérique about his project which will lead, next June, to the opening of a factory near Caen.
By Ludmilla Intravaia
Le Boudoir Numérique : You launched your LINportant project on November 14th. What is it about ?
Paul Boyer, managing director of LINportant : We are a cooperative company bringing together all the players in the linen sector for the local manufacture of organic linen T-shirts. France is the world leader in the production of flax, the most ecological textile fiber, if we compare it, for example, with synthetic materials or with GMO cotton, stuffed with pesticides. Organic cotton is already a good response to the significant environmental impact of the clothing industry. But flax makes it possible to go further, thanks to its local dimension, the territory in which it is historically anchored, this Flanders terroir, from Normandy and Bayeux to Amsterdam, this north-west of France characterized by a temperate and humid climate, favorable to flax. The Norman miracle, i like to call it. Our local natural fibers are cultivated by organic farming, which helps to minimize the environmental impact and encourage farmers to convert to organic farming. LINportant relies on a collective that goes from the farmer, to textile processing, spinning, weaving, knitting, ennobling, etc., to fashion distribution and civil society players, in short, from the fiber that grows in the fields to the clothing in your wardrobe, for the promotion of short local circuits, the development of traditional skills and local jobs.
LINportant at Avantex, February 10, 2020 (©Le Boudoir Numérique)
Who is your T-shirt production for ?
With a few exceptions, we do not address individuals but professionals to whom we sell our T-shirts in large series. We are a player in the social and solidarity economy. The goal of our project is not to take advantage of a business opportunity to enrich ourselves but to create a profitable company, whose mission is to strengthen the linen sector with a solid industrial player. Today, a T-shirt produced in large series in France, the one that will be worn by the man on the street, hardly exists. As a manufacturer, we can create this tool, to offer brands the production of their models in organic linen made in France. A transparent product, because the brands will know who produced it, how and where, simply because they will have been able to meet all the players in our sector, talk to them, exchange with them and, ultimately, collectively participate in a project that gives back meaning to the garment.
Do you feel that the public reacts positively to your initiative ?
When I started in ethical fashion, in 2003, with a brand of organic cotton, people were saying to me : you can't eat cotton, why should it be organic ? The public was not very aware of this problem, it was even very, very far from it. I would say that today we are still far away but we have crossed a threshold, according which when some 10% of the population shares an idea, it is on its way and nobody wil be able to stop it. Right now, more than 10% of the population is looking at the clothing labels, which is very important because it defines us and our values. We are not the same person when we put on the firefighter's uniform, the nurse's blouse, a polyester suit or when we put on a T-shirt in linen, which we know was grown in Seine -Maritime, near a shingle beach, by a farmer who feeds his cows on the same organic fields. Linen tells an emotional story, the collective story of French know-how, of which we are proud, a story that is told only in our country.
LINportant at Avantex, February 10, 2020 (©Le Boudoir Numérique)
* UPDATE FROM THE AUTHOR : On March 23, LINportant launched an Ulule crowdfunding campaign for its project to manufacture organic linen T-shirts made in France, which will notably see the opening, in June 2020, of a factory in Evrecy, near Caen. All the info on LINportant website here. The Ulule campaign is there.
* Avantex, the high-tech and innovative textile trade fair, took place at Le Bourget, from February 10 to 13, 2020. More information on the event website here.
* Continue reading on Avantex with these following Boudoir Numérique papers :
- “Augmenting garments functionalities, thanks to biomaterials”