The first phase of the “Galician Initiative for Flax”, with a budget of 900,000 euros, begins with research work and experimental crops to test and genetically catalogue the highest-quality flax and start multiplying seeds for large-scale cultivation in Galicia. The plan also includes an agronomic and economic feasibility study for industrial linen textile production units, as well as an analysis of the fibre’s historical and cultural importance.
«We want to value what works, the tradition of what has always been done and what shapes who we are. In the 1980s, we brought linen into fashion when it had almost fallen into disuse. Being part of an initiative that seeks to cultivate and produce local Galician flax once again is a natural step in our commitment to the territory that surrounds and identifies us», said Adriana Domínguez, president of the Adolfo Domínguez Foundation, during a visit to the Centro de Formación e Experimentación Agroforestal de Guísamo, in A Coruña, one of the organisations involved in the programme, where yield trials are already under way on experimental crops of Galician flax.
Also present during the visit, Alfonso Rueda, president of the Xunta de Galicia, stressed that this «is about revitalising an agricultural crop that we had for thousands of years and which, fortunately, has not been lost. It means rural development and life in rural areas. It also has an economic dimension, so that cultivation is profitable and does not remain merely symbolic, and, of course, it is a very important element of identity. Flax is something deeply our own».
The partnership between the Adolfo Domínguez Foundation and the Xunta de Galicia also has the support of the Spanish association Legados, which is taking part in the initiative to promote a model for enhancing native fibres that seeks to connect rural areas, intangible heritage, textile sovereignty and local economic development within the same value chain. «The renewed value placed on domestic raw materials, such as flax, is both a strategy for economically revitalising rural areas and a tool for preserving the territory. With this initiative, we propose that fibres which have demonstrated their value over centuries should once again be integrated into the contemporary fashion chain through innovation and design», explained Javier Dorado, director of Legados.
The potential of flax
According to the Spanish association, imports of linen textiles into Spain have increased by 51% over the past four years, and their price has doubled. In 2025, the Spanish textile industry spent 115 million euros on imports of unmade-up linen, 65% of which corresponded to Galician companies.
[©Legados]
«Galicia was a world leader in the production of the highest-quality flax in the 17th and 18th centuries, but this gradually disappeared with the Industrial Revolution and the arrival of cotton. We are now starting with 20 kilograms of Galician flax seed and have the opportunity to reactivate, through this crop, which is also sustainable, the economic development of the region’s rural areas and European fashion», highlighted Antonio Roade, director of the Adolfo Domínguez Foundation.
The initiative also has the support of ATP – Associação Têxtil e Vestuário de Portugal and involves the regional departments for Rural Affairs, Economy and Industry, and Culture, Asociación de Mulleres Rurais de Insua, Asociación de Amigos do Liño, Texfor – Confederación de la Industria Textil, Observatorio de Textil y Moda, the University of A Coruña, the University of Santiago de Compostela and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
