Ramie, a bast fiber from the ramie plant, is also known as grass cloth, rhea, or China grass. As one of the strongest natural fibers, Ramie is a pure white fiber similar to flax, but higher in luster because of its longer fiber length.
Ramie has been grown in China for thousands of years, where people call the cloth made from Ramie 'summer cloth'. Although ancient people didn't know about technical terms, they have found the truth by their own way. Modern science has proven that Ramie cloth is highly resistant to mold, mildew as well as rotting, breathable and easy to dry, make it perfect for summer wear. Some study reveals that penetration of solar UV of Ramie is less than 0.6%, it stops 41.7 times of UV as cotton does, so that to greatly reduce the injury to human body by the sun.
In some places in China, like Liuyang in Hunan Province, Wanzai in Jiangxi Province, and Ronglong in Chongqing City, traditional handcraft technique have been inherited, making out to very fine Ramie fiber - as fine as silk.
Ramie is popular in Japan and Korea too. People there has used it to make up clothes, door curtain, scarf, cushion, even has been luxury material for summer kimono for thousands of years.
Ramie cloth is ideal for summer in New Zealand.
Check our large ranges of ramie products......
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苧麻作為一種時尚材料重新回到人們的視野也就是近幾年的事。但事實上它早已風行過千年。
中國人將苧麻所織成的布料，稱為「夏布」，一說是因為苧麻透氣吸濕、傳熱抑菌，極適合夏天穿著，還有一說因為苧麻被製成衣，是遠在夏朝的事。
湖南瀏陽、江西萬載、重慶榮隆是夏布的傳統產地，還保留著手工績紗的工藝，成品極細，幾如蠶絲，比機紡紗要好得多。
但手工績紗要把苧麻莖的表皮刮青，然後再把中間部分用手撕成薄而細的條，一天最多只能做出幾十克，除了一些老人，已沒有太多人有耐心去這樣做了。
近半個世紀以來，國人對歐美風尚亦步亦趨，生怕被世界邊緣化，千年夏布因此而經歷了一段沒落時期，是日本和韓國對夏布的穩定需求維繫了它的傳承。
但因為染色技術、設計能力的不足，往往要將原材料運到日本，做完植物染之後，再到國內製成坯布，復又經過日本設計師的裁剪，成為和服、門簾、圍巾、坐墊等家居用品，進入人們的生活與心中。
現在呢，有些人累了，新事物的浪潮每天都洶湧而來，狼奔豕突的追逐終歸是件令人疲憊的事，於是停下腳步，茫然四顧，回頭在傳統中尋找讓自己安心的資源。
而另一群更年輕的人，則活得輕盈，沒有沈重的包袱，傳統對於他們來說，是可以被拿來再度闡述、再度創意的材料，他們看到的，是更多、更新、更酷的可能性。
這些看似矛盾的需求，卻合流為一個復古審美週期的降臨。
沒什麼不好。你所遺忘的，定會在某個新的時刻回到你的未來，你所摧毀的，必將以某個新的面目站在你的面前。
夏布如是，家國如是，人生亦如是。
P.S： 苧麻纖維的紫外線穿透率不足0.6%，它的抗紫外線能力是棉的41.7倍，能有效阻擋紫外線對人體的刺激與傷害。這對於生活在紐村的大家來說，是個額外的福利。