Fibre encyclopedia
Jute
Also called jute · goni · karung goni · hessian · JU
Coarse stem fibre used for sacking and interior cloth. It holds lignin, so light turns it brown, and it loses strength when wet.
Class
Natural
Comes from
From a plant
Where it comes from
Jute comes from the stem of Corchorus, retted in water and stripped by hand. It is one of the cheapest stem fibres to produce and one of the coarsest to spin.
How it feels to wear
Air
Air moves through the fibre easily
Water
Takes water into the fibre
Heat
Neither holds nor sheds heat
Stretch
No stretch of its own
Wear
Holds up to ordinary rubbing
Jute holds a high share of lignin, the stiffening compound in wood, which is why the fibre is rigid and why daylight turns it brown over time. It absorbs water readily and loses a noticeable part of its strength while wet.
Care
- Keep it dry. Damp jute holds smell and weakens.
- Brush rather than wash.
- Keep out of direct sun to slow the colour change.
Jute is treated as an interior material rather than a laundry material, and most jute goods carry no wash instruction at all.
End of life
Recycling route
No route running at scale
There is no sorted collection for jute textiles. Sacks are reused for as long as the weave holds, which is the route it actually travels.
In a blend
Jute is frequently backed or laminated with polypropylene for sacking, and the two are bonded rather than spun, so they separate only by hand.
Skin notes
Mechanical
The fibre is stiff and the yarn is hairy, so jute is felt as abrasive against bare skin. This is diameter and stiffness, the same mechanical route as coarse wool.
Chemical
Jute is softened with batching oil during processing, and mineral oil residue can remain in the fibre. The label does not mention it.
If your skin reacts to a garment, a dermatologist and patch testing are what can answer it. A label cannot, and neither can this page.
What the label cannot tell you
The label says jute. It does not say what the sack carried before, whether the fibre still holds batching oil, or whether a plastic liner is bonded to the back.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 on textile fibre names and related labelling, Annex I. Checked 22 August 2026
Written from primary sources and in our own words. Where a figure could not be traced to a source anyone can open, it is not printed here.
Read the label you are holding
The scan surface reads one care label and names which questions it answers and which it leaves out. A passport says for one specific piece what a label cannot: the composition with its percentages, where the cloth came from, who worked on it, how to repair it and where it goes next.