Linen Tunic

Description of the Product

In the northernmost Europe regular common man and woman living in the county side dressed pretty much similarly from the Viking Era to the Renaissance. Only jewelry and small accessories changed with the times. In the cities the fashion naturally changed and wealthy people changed clothing styles as decades and centuries changed. Viking Era clothing remained in use for a surprisingly long time and for example in Finland regular people walked around wearing ancient style clothing throughout the entire Middle Ages. A tunic made of linen became shorter as centuries passed but as a tried and true material a linen shirt still remains in use till this day as a nostalgic part of country-style clothing.

Flax is one of the oldest plants people have been cultivating and directions for linen textile manufacture has been found on 4000 year old Egyptian wall paintings. Linen was one of the most important textile plants in middle age Europe. Linen has been cultivated for example in Finland from the bronze age onward but as nettle and hemp grow better and faster in the north, large parts of linen was imported from other countries to the north during medieval times.

Sleeves were sometimes unnecessary long in pre-history dresses/tunics found in burials. Sometimes the sleeves were so long that separate handcuffs were needed to keep the sleeves up. Maybe the wearer was letting everyone know how wealthy he/she was, as he/she could spend scarce resources even on unnecessary clothing parts. With this shirt we have tried to keep the sleeves up to modern standards but if the sleeves are too long for you, at least then you know that you are part of the ancient royalty.

The linen in this tunic is soft to the touch but still durable and breaths very well. Linen is naturally absorbent and dries faster than cotton. Baltic linen is grown in the Baltic and Nordic countries where long cold winters around the Baltic Sea make this plant and its fibers strong and durable. Properties that our ancestors appreciated.

• Made of 100% Baltic linen
• The shirt neck opening is in old traditional northern style. Can be closed at the top with a separate brooch or worn open.
• Small slit at the sides in the hem
• Historically accurate from late Roman times till almost modern times
• Available sizes XS-XXXL
• Made by Karhunhammas - Beartooth

Shirt sizes: