What is shatnez?
Shatnez (or shaatnez) is cloth containing both wool and linen mixed together which Jewish law strictly prohibits wearing. “Wool” refers only sheep wool, so the fibers produced by other animals such as mohair, camel, cashmere, angora, alpaca and vicuna mixed with linen are not shatnez. “Linen” refers only fibers of flax plant, so the other fibers such as cotton, ramie, hemp, jute, bamboo and silk mixed with wool are not shatnez neither.
Shatnez-free tailoring / Kosher wear
Since we were asked to make our first non-shatnez suit, we have been investigating about both the culture and materials. To be honest, we had no idea about shatnez before. Now we are able to offer our shatnez-free suit or jacket upon request. (T/C may apply)
Shatnez-free fabrics
First of all, you must be very careful to choose the fabric. There are plenty of fabrics contain wool and linen together (= linsey-woolsey) especially high-end blended summer fabrics from Europe like the ones shown below which you SHOULD NOT choose for kosher wear.
Shatnez-free linings, interlinings and threads
When we talk about kosher wear, it is not only about exterior fabric but also linings and interlinings such as chest canvas, shoulder pads, under collar felt, sleeve head, pocket cloth, etc.. And also we hace to choose the thread to sew. We have asked our suppliers technical sheets of each items and carefully checked them. Some of them come with laboratory test results as well, especially canvas which is commonly mixed both wool and linen. We replace some of our interlinings to linen-free one. This is how we ensure that our garments are shatnez-free.
Shatnez-free linen suits and jackets
When it comes to linen garments which have to be shatnez-free, we must replace our canvas to other one because the canvas we use are wool blended and it must be wool-free. Horsehair or polyester based canvas are alternative.
Is our shatnez-free garment certificated?
Unfortunately we cannot certify any of our garments as shatnez-free. All we can do is carefully working with the corresponded materiales to meet the requirement. We choose the materials with our criterion based on the information given by our suppliers. Regarding that, the only way to obtain a certificate is sending each gament to a Rabbi (Jewish leader, master, teacher) who offers shatnez testing service.
