rami

Malay rami named the plant Boehmeria nivea, a member of the nettle family native to eastern Asia. Chinese cultivation of ramie dates to at least 5000 BCE, making it one of the oldest cultivated fiber plants in the world — older than cotton in Asia, though less widely known in the modern West. The plant's long stem fibers, processed by retting and scraping (as with flax), produce threads with a silky luster and exceptional tensile strength. Chinese ramie cloth has been found in Egyptian mummies' wrappings, indicating trade connections older than written record.

Ramie's properties make it remarkable: it is one of the strongest natural fibers, eight times stronger than cotton; it is naturally antibacterial; it does not shrink; it dyes brilliantly; it becomes stronger when wet. The Qing Dynasty mandarin's court robes were sometimes woven from ramie. In the 19th century, European and American textile industries attempted repeatedly to establish ramie production, convinced that the 'vegetable steel' would rival or replace cotton and linen.

The industrialization of ramie failed in the West primarily because of the degumming process: ramie fibers are held together by a gum (pectin and other compounds) that must be removed before the fibers can be spun. The traditional Asian degumming process was slow and laborious; no mechanical substitute was developed efficiently until the late 20th century. While cotton and linen were successfully industrialized in the 18th and 19th centuries, ramie remained a hand-processed specialty.

Today ramie is produced primarily in China, the Philippines, Brazil, and South Korea, mostly blended with cotton or used in specialty textiles. It appears in summer clothing (its moisture-wicking properties make it cool) and in industrial applications. The fiber that was woven for Chinese emperors and found in Egyptian mummy wrappings is now mostly an ingredient in fabric blends, its long history largely unknown to the consumers wearing it.