Ozette’s namesake is the remote northwestern coast of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, home of the Makah people. It has about 200 km of densely forested Pacific Ocean coastline, filled with tidepools and rocky headlands. The trees close to the shore have a special beauty from being twisted and buttressed by the effects of sand and salt spray.
Ozette is a rare, open weave casement fabric of pure linen. It has body as well as texture, and the colors and pattern are highlighted when used against an opaque background. The yarns glow in certain lights. Ozette can be used in wallcoverings, Roman shades, window treatments, stereo covers, and many other creative ways, either by itself or with a fabric backing.
ECOFACTS Luscious Linen. This linen is grown in northern Italy without the use of herbicides, pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. Called "bio linen" in Italy, it will qualify for “organic” certification. The linen fibers we use in the yarn are “tow” or extremely long fiber strands.
Certified Safe. The fibers are spun into yarn and dyed in northern Italy by a spinner who has earned the "Master of Linen" designation. These craftspeople use only low-impact fiber reactive dyes that have no chemical toxicity. They take care to treat their wastewater so that it does not contaminate the local environment.
These yarns are certified by Oeko Tex to Standard 100. Oeko Tex is a third party certifier; it measures the chemicals found in fabrics which are known to impact human health. Their standard 100 is the most stringent, which means these yarns are safe enough for infants to put in their mouths.
Old-World Methods. The yarns are woven into the fabric at a mill in southern Italy that has been in the same location for over 100 years. This mill uses absolutely no sizers or de-sizers, in fact it uses no chemicals at all throughout their production process, avoiding chemical baths that degrade the yarn's quality and inherent strength.
Test Results. Ozette is predicted to meet GreenGuard standards. It was tested by an ISO 9001:2000 registered IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) testing lab, which measured the out-gassing of nasty chemicals. Our results were very impressive, well below limits set by the USGBC to allow fabrics to accrue LEED points for low emitting materials.
This test, a combination of gas chromatograph/mass spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatography, lasts for 24 hours. A small piece of fabric is placed in a closed chamber. The chemicals out-gassed for the first 24 hours at a given temperature and pressure are extrapolated to predict the results for the equivalent of a room volume. Based on decay rates for various chemicals, the test predicts the results after 168 hours (the GreenGuard requirement). So based on those parameters, and the results you see below, our fabrics passed with flying colors.
