Ah, Yvonne. Our linen savant, aficionado and supplier of luxury threads. Our sounding board, enabler of new ideas and custom fabric creator. Based in Shanghai, with decades of experience in the business and relationships formed from fibre to fabric, Yvonne provides us a supply chain with quality, care and consideration woven in. 

It was a lucky day in Instaland when she dropped us a DM and one meeting with this sophisticated girlboss had us all kinds of excited. Today she is an integral part of our process, working closely alongside co-founder Kiki in Shanghai. Goodness knows where we’d be without her. Probably in a dark corner, naked and ugly crying. 

Tell us about your boutique linen business

I have been importing linen from France for the past decade, during which I developed great relationships with yarn mills, weaving factories and dyeing factories, and an in-depth understanding of the process linen goes through. 

I then met a man who wore more linen than me. He spent his college years in France, and was influenced strongly by the European culture and lifestyle. Together, we started a new business that has full control of the process from fibre to fabric, allowing us to produce linen with care and consideration for people and the environment. We work alongside small, boutique brands like hej hej to supply the bones of quality, unique collections. 

Why do you love linen?

To me, linen stands for a simple lifestyle - it’s comfortable, versatile and strong so we know we’re creating the bones for pieces that will last. It looks polished but relaxed, and can be dressed up or down and we love the range of vibrant colours and textures it comes in. 

Made from flax, linen is also 100% natural. It’s biodegradable, uses almost no water and just a quarter of the carbon that cotton requires to produce. My go-to line is ‘easy, breezy, anti-bacterial and oh so gentle on your skin and the planet’. 

I have a five-year old son who I only dress in linen and linen cotton. Naughty, chatty and active like most little boys, linen is ideal for sweat absorption and super skin friendly.

What is special about the linen you sell?

First and foremost, the quality of our linen and the care that goes into the process. We also create custom colours, prints and embroidery in small batches - like the gorgeous daisy embroidery for you lovely ladies. 

What do you bring to the hej hej table?

My knowledge of linen and experience working with this magnificent fabric means that I can help to select the right type of linen for each hej hej design - the right weight, texture and colour. I can also provide some inspiration and examples of all the amazing things you can do with linen - stonewashed, embroidered, different types of dyes and every colour under the sun. 

What is your favourite linen right now?

Single nature colour pure linen - essentially, linen in its most natural form, with a stone wash finish and no dye. It has a unique look, which you can see with the hej hej daisy design.

Now, because linen takes such good care of us we think it’s only fair that we take care of it. It’s not as niggly as folks have come to believe, there’s just a few key things to remember which we’ve turned into a song. Just kidding, it’s a list but you can hum while you read it if you want. Take a look at The hej hej linen care guide.

Written by Zoe Edwards from Muster  // Photos by Graeme Kennedy