**1. Introduction**

*Cannabis sativa L*. and *Linum usitatissimum L.* belong to fibrous plant family containing fibers occurring as bast of the stalk. Both the fibrous plants have gained importance in the face of bioeconomy development in the whole world resulting from pro-ecological character of the flax/hemp value chains as well as a growing preference for natural raw materials, which are desired for bioproduct manufacture in many sectors.

Observed climate change and environmental degradation impose taking measures that will protect the globe for future generations [1]. The European Green Deal (EGD) set up three main objectives to counteract negative phenomenon:


One of the assumptions of the European Green Deal is the improvement of the well-being and health of citizens by providing:


*C. sativa L.* and *L. usitatissimum L.* plants, delivered by them raw materials as well as flax/hemp value chains and bast-fiber-based bioproducts are fully in line with the EGD measures. Their impact on environment and agriculture is discussed in many scientific articles [2–6].

The hemp cultivation ensures positive impact on preserving biodiversity, improvement of soil quality, and dredging of heavy metals from the ground and, from the other side, supports cleaning of air by the absorption of CO2 from atmosphere. Hemp is a yearling fast growing plant with well-developed leaves system, which results in that one season of hemp cultivation causes absorption about 10 tons of CO2 from the air. Hemp is resistant to drought; due to a long-root system, dense hemp cultivation causes effective blocking of weed growing, which means significantly less consumption of water and pesticides in comparison to cotton. The environmental approach to flax/linen processes based on Life cycle assessment (LCA) study for linen shirt production confirms that the impacts of the linen shirt are up to seven times smaller than the impacts of the cotton shirt in terms of the most relevant environmental indicators, such as the freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity potential or water consumption. In the case of the global warming potential or the primary energy consumption, the environmental impacts of the linen shirt production are either equivalent to those of the cotton shirt or 10–15% higher [7].

Reports on linen/hemp textile bioactivity and its effect on human in terms of the well-being and health of wearer are very limited in the available literature.

The goal of this chapter is to provide knowledge covering a new approach to flax/ hemp fibers regarding their potential to give new properties of clothing, which are able to ensure optimal environment for human body and improve health and quality of life. The properties of the textiles are determined by carefully selected fibrous plant variety and fiber processing suitable to final application.

This chapter covers discussion about new approach to the flax and hemp fibers taking into account their features and potential to have a positive impact on human life, based on authors' finding and other available literature.

The authors introduce multiperspective meaning of the term "improvement of human life" to demonstrate environmental and human-ecological performance of flax/hemp fibers.

The discussed textile plant raw materials have positive impact on the following:

1. environment—ensuring contribution to striving toward keeping green planet and healthy life for current and future generation,


Both the aspects of environmental and human-ecological performance of flax and hemp have to be identified as complex factors, which have a significant effect on the improvement of human life.
