Nettles – Without the Sting

 

 

{mosimage}Most of us are familiar with stinging nettles. If you are not, then in brief nettles are treated as weeds which grow everywhere around us; in gardens, on road sides, amongst bushes – everywhere you can find it. Course to the touch with a prickly sting nettles are regarded by many as nature’s pests.

 

 

Throughout history nettles have been popular for medicinal purposes but in more recent times textile companies have discovered that the plant can be processed and used as a durable, high quality fabric. A few companies have now started to sell fashions created from nettles, sting excluded – of course.

 

 

It could bring a revolution to the textile industry if some of the larger companies started to produce clothes made from nettles. Unlike its raw state nettle fabrics are soft and tactile and research has shown that the nettle fibre has more strength than the widely used cotton.

 

 

Strength and touch aside nettle provides a very environmentally friendly option. It uses minimal pesticides compared to cotton which uses almost 25% of pesticides worldwide. Not only are nettles easy to grow but they require little water making nettle fibre a far more eco friendly choice than the likes of cotton.

 

 

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For more information on nettles visit: www.nettles.org.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

For unique fashion accessories created from nettle fibres visit www.UniqLooks.com The garments featured on UniqLooks use extracted nettle fibres which are spun and knitted by hand. Each product is shipped with a label which has the name and address of the person who knitted each piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Maninder Singh