The honest breakdown of what goes into a linen garment's price.
European linen is expensive to grow, slow to harvest, and complex to weave. Add hand-cutting, individual sewing, and made-to-order production — and the price reflects the truth. We could use cheaper fabric. We could cut corners. But you'd feel it. And so would we.
What makes linen more expensive than cotton or polyester?
Flax yields less fibre per hectare than cotton, and the conversion from raw flax to woven linen involves more steps: retting, scutching, hackling, spinning, weaving. Each step requires specialised equipment and expertise. European labour standards ensure fair wages throughout. The result is a fabric that costs more per metre but lasts dramatically longer. Premium European linen costs roughly 3-5x more than commodity cotton. That's reflected in the garment price.
How much does it cost to make a linen garment by hand?
A single linen dress requires approximately 2-3 metres of fabric, plus thread, buttons or closures, and interfacing. The sewing takes 3-6 hours depending on complexity. Add pattern grading, individual cutting, quality checking, pressing, and packing. Our seamstresses earn fair wages in a safe, well-equipped atelier. Every cost is real — there's no step where we're extracting margin from someone's underpayment.
Why is slow fashion worth the price?
Consider cost per wear. A €140 linen piece worn once a week for three years costs €0.90 per wear — and it'll last well beyond three years. Fast fashion's low prices only make sense if you don't think about what happens next: the garment loses shape after five washes, sits unworn at the back of a drawer, and eventually joins the 92 million tonnes of textile waste generated annually.
The price is the truth. We'd rather be honest than cheap.