Summer is officially on its way, and it’s important to know how to stay cool all season so that you can enjoy the warm weather without any of its discomfort. While most people know to switch out their closets in favor of looser, breathable fabrics, your home textiles deserve an upgrade for the season too and during summer, natural fibers like hemp and linen are a cut above the rest.

Being both breathable and excellent at moisture absorption, hemp and linen fabrics have made a name for themselves as ideal summer fabrics. Hemp and linen also require less water and fewer pesticides to grow compared to cotton, ranking their sustainability performance high amongst natural materials.

In the past, certain features of hemp and linen have prevented them from reaching their full potential. For one, pure hemp and pure linen are both incredibly wrinkled prone and have a rough texture that’s counterintuitive to the comfort features usually sought out for home textiles.

Fortunately, as the textile industry’s interest in hemp and linen grows, improving technology and new types of fiber blends is helping to realize the full benefits of these natural fibers – just in time for the warmer season.

TENCEL™ Lyocell blend with hemp or linen

Known for their natural comfort, TENCEL™ Lyocell has emerged as a great blending partner for linen or hemp, elevating them with increased functionality and sustainable credentials. Blends containing 30% or more TENCEL™ Lyocell has been shown to improve the wrinkle recovery rate* of fabrics made with linen and the smooth surface of the fibers also helps to decrease any visible wrinkling, even after repeated washing and drying**. Additionally, the peach skin finishing of the blended fabrics creates a fashionable vintage look and even softer fabric hand feel.

TENCEL™ Lyocell has been a preferred fiber blend due to functional benefits they add to final fabrics. For home textiles such as bedding and bed linen, TENCEL™ Lyocell support the body's natural thermal regulation mechanisms, helping your body maintain a comfortable temperature, even in the warmer season. Comprised of 60% linen and 40% TENCEL™ Lyocell, Urbanara’s Torreira Bedding collection blends the two fiber types bringing together properties of breathability and moisture management to contribute to good sleep comfort.

Fabrics that pair hemp and linen with TENCEL™ fibers exhibit a smooth surface that is gentle on skin, together with better moisture management, enhanced drapeability and high tenacity profile strength, they are the ideal choice for your home textiles in the summertime.

The cycle of sustainability

One reason fabrics made of hemp and linen have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity is due to their natural sustainability. TENCEL™ Lyocell blends with hemp and linen offer even more in terms of sustainability, with all TENCEL™ standard lyocell fiber types certified as fully biodegradable and compostable, thus being able to fully revert back to nature. TENCEL™ fibers are derived from the natural raw material wood, harvested from certified and controlled sources. They are produced by an eco-responsible process with low resource usage, as well as minimized water pollution and emissions.

To offer even more sustainable products, standard TENCEL™ Lyocell fibers are available with REFIBRA™ technology or as carbon zero. Furthermore, all TENCEL™ Lyocell fibers are identifiable, verifiable and traceable with our patented fiber identification technology, ensuring a higher degree of transparency along the value chain.

“As a fiber blend partner, TENCEL™ fibers help set a new sustainable standard for home, elevating natural fibers such as hemp and linen to their full potential,” said Denitza Ivanoff, Global Business Development Senior Manager Home & Interior Textiles. “We are extremely proud to collaborate with brands such as Urbanara to bring out the benefits of these fibers in time for summer.”

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*Blending with 30% or more TENCEL™ Lyocell ­fibers improves the wrinkle recovery rate of curtain fabrics made of natural ­fibers, such as cotton and linen, as measured by the PhabrOmeter® test.

**As supported by the Durable Press Rating Test.