The Flax Man

Be sure to check out our coverage in this month’s issue of Portland Monthly.

FLAX CLOTH might evoke visions of a hand-made Saturday Market tunic. But Ken Barker, former head of Adidas’ Portland-based apparel division, sees a large-scale opportunity in the flax-based textile fibers created by Naturally Advanced Technologies (NAT): a chance to save the world from cotton.

“Cotton is just about the most destructive crop on earth,” the 55-year-old, South Africa–born Barker says. “At Adidas, we looked at every sustainable fiber you can think of. Coconut. Banana. Seaweed. I thought, ‘This is the Holy Grail.’”

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