In June 2025, we traveled to Kortrijk, Belgium, for something blooming: flax flowers.

This region sits in the heart of the world's best flax-growing region, stretching from Amsterdam to Caen in northern France. The temperate climate, with its balance of rain and sun, has made this area perfect for flax for centuries. France produces 75% of the world's flax, with Normandy alone accounting for nearly a third of global production. But climate change is shifting things, warmer temperatures and changing rainfall patterns are beginning to affect these traditionally ideal conditions.

We started at Texture Museum, housed in a former flax warehouse along the River Leie. The museum tells the story of Kortrijk's linen industry and how "Kortrijk flax" became a premium product worldwide.

Then we cycled the museum's flax field route. Timing is everything with flax, the flowers bloom for just one day. Some fields had already finished, others hadn't started yet. We passed green stalks and brown stems, searching for that delicate blue.

We were ready to give up when we found it, a field in full bloom. Pale blue flowers swaying in the breeze, there for just this moment.

Standing there, we remembered exactly why we chose linen for our sleepwear. Flax grows without demanding much, it thrives on less fertile soil and needs little water. It's also a fairly local crop, which means less transport. The fibers are two to three times stronger than cotton. A truly sustainable material.

This trip connected us to where our materials come from. Linen begins here, in fields that bloom for a single day, tended by people who know the rhythm of the seasons.