Two Words For Linen, And A Third Meaning Clever

A fashion buyer who knew too much

Yue Jiang spent over a decade in fashion buying and production, which is to say backstage rather than front. She had no intention of starting a brand. What changed her mind was knowing rather more than is comfortable: that nobody could tell you where a fabric came from, under what conditions a garment was made, or where the raw material was grown. She started Má + Lin in London in 2021 to do it the other way round.

The name does three things at once

Má (麻) is linen in Chinese. Lin is linen in French. Run them together and malin means clever, also in French. Yue's background sits across both cultures, so the name works in all three directions, which is showing off and entirely earned.

Traceable back to the field

Everything is 100% Master of Linen certified, the European mark that follows flax from the ground to the fabric, and every stage happens in Europe: the farm, the mill, the garment maker. There is a published supply chain map, which is the part almost nobody bothers with, largely because publishing one requires having one.

Peter Pan collars and wooden buttons

Blouses, linen dresses, tote bags. Cut to suit a range of ages and shapes rather than one particular kind of person, made in limited runs, and designed on the cheerful assumption that you will still be wearing them in ten years.

Find her here

Have a browse through Women's Fashion, the dresses, the blouses and tops, our Women-Led brands, or the European Brands edit.