Treating Fine Linen with Respect

Linen is the queen of plant fibers. There's nothing like putting on a crisp linen shirt on a muggy summer day, and no way to describe the weightless warmth of a linen shirt on a chilly morning. You have to experience it yourself. I first discovered linen in 2008, when I bought my first linen shirt. It still feels fine today, but unfortunately I didn't treat it right for many of the intervening years. There is a learning curve for linen, but once treated with respect becomes an easy fabric that will last for decades. I will not repeat mistakes with my newer linen garments.

I have linen shirts, shorts, pants, socks, a towel, boxers, and a sweater. This is what I've learned about linen.

Wash linen in cool water on the gentle cycle. Unbutton all buttons and turn the garment inside out. Use a quality gentle detergent, and sparingly. Add a little borax to boost the detergent. Instead of fabric softener, add white vinegar to the rinse cycle.

Remove the linen garment from the washer as soon as the cycle ends to limit wrinkling. The garment should have a faint vinegar odor. Never put linen in a dryer. Flax fiber is extremely strong when wet, but dry heat makes it brittle and the fibers will literally snap in half on a microscopic level if tumbling in a dryer on high heat, not to mention the extreme wrinkling (tumbling on dry heat is how I messed up a few of my shirts in the past). 

Line-dry linen for best results. In my apartment, I hang shirts on a shirt hanger, button the top button, smooth out any wrinkles, and hang on my shower curtain rod and blow a fan in the room. The shirts dry in 30 minutes, and there is no vinegar odor left. Since they're already on a hanger, I just move them to the closet from there. 

For a crisper look, iron linen on the iron's highest setting while the garment is still damp. For an even crisper crisper look, use starch. I don't bother with ironing, though. The steps above eliminate enough wrinkles for a casual look. 

For knitted linen garments, I use the same principles above, except I hand wash and dry flat. 

That's all there is to it. Crisp, clean linen ready to throw on, and no loud hot dryers wasting electricity. Enjoy your fine linen.