Wearing a linen clothes has become a status symbol in India. It's probably right to say the wrinkles add to linen’s flavor and appeal. Some 6,000 flax growers in France supply 60 per cent of the raw material for the world’s linen, the fabric of wrinkly bed sheets and summer suits. This spring, French farmers sowed the most flax in a decade as expanding demand for linen in India has helped prices recover from a slump.

Europe and the US remain the biggest markets for linen but two decades of economic expansion have swelled India’s middle class. India’s linen market was practically non-existent five years ago and is now growing at 20 per cent a year. Linen’s ability to absorb sweat and keep the body cool makes it a perfect fabric for India’s climate.

Besides the comeback of knitted linen, demand is also being pushed with the use of the fiber in composites for tennis rackets and automotive parts, a market that makes up six per cent of demand. Despite everything, global linen market is minuscule compared to cotton and wool, making up less than one per cent of the textile market.