Himalayan nettle: a promising fibre on the rise

Abstract

The nettle is widely known as an "unloved" plant due to its unpleasant and even painful texture when incorrectly handled. However, it has very interesting therapeutic properties and stands out for its high sustainability, from cultivation, extraction, and fibre processing to the development of a long-lasting end-product with unique characteristics. With this paper we sought to demonstrate the growing relevance of the nettle fibre for the fashion industry, mainly their spinnability properties. For this purpose, a hand spun Himalayan nettle yarn (588,24 Tex) was bought and it were studied. A woven fabric with different wool/nettle compositions was produced and their main properties analysed. Our findings proved that due to the irregularity of the acquired yarn, it is not possible to obtain scientific statements concerning the properties of nettle yarn. However, this is a work in progress, which aims for more promising results.