Linen is a natural product of the flax plant. Just as the growing flax plant requires nurturing, finished linen products too require to be cared for to ensure that their quality is preserved. Today Linen has become such a big contender in the world of fashion that you suddenly have a whole generation of people, young and old alike, sit up and take notice of this fabric. Though it has been around for eons now, the modern world has seen a kind of resurrection of the fabric.
Linen shirts, Linen trousers, Linen dresses, not to mention linen bedspreads, table cloths and napkins they have all come back very strongly in today’s economy. The first and continued surge is of course, in the men’s clothing line. Linen has this unique climate control feature that is a natural offshoot of its make. It absorbs sweat and keeps the body cool in hot weather and traps heat keeps one fairly warm in cool weather. This has made it a darling for mass production of linen shirts for men as it makes for extremely comfortable wear all throughout the day straight into the evenings. The only drawback of this fabric is that it creases easily. But then that is also part of its beauty as it gives one the casual and comfortable look. So worn as a casual day wear the slight creasing just adds to its quaint charm. The following tips can be helpful; in caring and storing linen well:
• When packing for a trip then iron linen garments and then stuff the sleeves and wrap garments with tissue paper.
• Try and cover linen garments with plastic dry cleaning bags. This helps prevent wrinkling.
• Pull the arms of jackets, blouses and linen shirts around to the front when you hang them in a garment bag.
• With linen always try and unpack garments as soon as possible to ensure longer lasting crease free look.
• Also remember to press out wrinkles with a dry iron only. Do not try to steam out wrinkles.
• If the garment comes with a “dry cleaning is recommended” tag then try and get it dry cleaned only. When choosing a dry cleaner, enquire whether solvents are regularly changed. Unchanged solvents may lead to yellowing of white linen.
• Always launder or dry clean linen before storing. Soiled linen can encourage the growth of mildew. If mildew does attack your linen shirt or dress, brush the mold off outdoors to avoid scattering spores in your house. Then soak the linen item in a solution of oxygen bleach and water before laundering. If possible, dry in the sun.
• Use pure linen, cotton or muslin, not synthetics, as covers or garment bags.
• Do not store linens in plastic bags, cedar chests and cardboard boxes. It can lead to rotting or staining the fabric.
• Lastly, if storing linen shirts away for a long time then do open and refold occasionally. Or else it will fray along the folds. Also, try to store it without folding it at the collars, for the same reason of avoiding fraying.
Yogita Bali has penned down different write-ups on linen and its benefits. In this article she briefly describes the many things concerning linen shirts. .
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