Flax fiber has been used for more than 30,000 years and offers applications across eleven diverse product categories, from traditional textiles to modern composites. The main products include textiles, geotextiles, nonwovens, specialty paper, insulation, filtration materials, plastic composites, stuffing/wadding, and various applications for the woody shive portion. Both the fiber and shive components of flax provide environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional materials, making flax an increasingly important resource for sustainable manufacturing.

Saskatchewan produces 100,000-600,000 tonnes of flax straw annually, but most remains unused due to harvesting methods that damage the fibers and lack of proper retting processes. While farmers currently view flax straw as problematic waste, properly processed straw could generate significant additional income through products like linen, insulation, and composite materials. Research shows that winter weathering in Saskatchewan achieves similar quality to traditional retting, suggesting cost-effective solutions could transform this agricultural waste into a valuable resource.