Fabric Care
Linen Care
Linen is a wonderful natural material that grows with a minimal impact on our planet. Linen clothing is often associated with summer, much due to the exceptional coolness and freshness the fabric is able to maintain in hot and humid weather. The linen fiber is very strong, but garments made out of linen still need proper care. This is a general guide of how to care for linen garments, helping you make them look better and last longer.
STAIN TREATMENT
If you get a stain on your garment, treat the stain straight away with a stain solution suitable for linen. By doing so the stain will already be pre-cleaned, which makes doing the laundry more efficient. Make sure to avoid stain solutions with bleach for coloured linen garments, as bleach can cause shading of naturally dyed fabric, leaving unwanted light or orange spots. Bleach can also damage the fabric fibers.
IRONING OR STEAMING
Linen, by it’s very nature may wrinkle, often seen as a part of the fabrics charm and charasteristics. However, if you prefer a more formal look and wish to iron your garment, it is advised to spray the garment with water 5-10 minutes before ironing. This will make ironing much easier. Due to the delicate nature of linen, the fibers can break if over ironed repeatedly over time.
WASH CAREFULLY
Unlike wool, linen does not have the natural anti-bacterial and odour-resistant properties, which means linen needs to be washed a little more often. Nevertheless, we suggest that you machine wash your linen garments at 30°C (cold) or even that you hand wash for spot treatments. This will save energy and expose the fibers to less stress, prolonging the lifetime of the garment (heat takes away the natural luster of the fabric). When washing colored garments, we recommend turning them inside out before washing. This process will help protect the outer surface of the fabric. Wash linen on low cycle to prevent shrinkage, creases and wrinkling.
STORING LINEN GARMENTS
The storage of linen garments is very simple. Keep the garments hanging in your wardrobe, preferably on wide wooden hangers instead of wire hangers as they result in less stress on the fabric and stitching and prevents the garment from getting permanently creased.
DRY NATURALLY
Give the garment a good shake after wash and a light pull in the sleeves, plackets and side seams to remove creases. Hang drying linen garments reduces their wrinkles and their general creasing, while tumble drying will make the garments shrink. To prevent shrinkage in the drying process, clothes should be air-dried and out of the sun if possible. Your Linen Shirt is pre-washed to eliminate shrinkage when following the specific care instructions, but this is not the case for linen garments in general.