What is Ramie?
Ramie, also known as China grass, is a plant fiber that has been used since ancient times. It is one of the strongest natural fibers and exhibits even greater strength when wet. It possesses little elasticity and is somewhat brittle and stiff. Like linen and cotton, ramie has poor resiliency and wrinkles easily. Other properties include resistance to alkalies, rotting, light, mildew and resistance to insects. Ramie is not harmed by mild acids but can be damaged by concentrated acids. The fiber has some natural stain resisting ability with ease of stain/soil removal similar to that of linen. Blends are more common than pure Ramie with the most being 55 percent ramie/45 percent cotton. When polyester is included in the blend, it improves wrinkle resistance and helps provide easy care and shrinkage control.
