Benefits of Wearing Linen Clothes in Summer

With summer in full swing, it’s time to celebrate linen summer clothes. For us, linen tunics and dresses, linen shirts or blouses are irreplaceable in summer, forming an essential part of a capsule wardrobe when travelling or in a hot and humid climate. And it’s not just because of their natural, timeless beauty that we love linen clothes in summer, they actually offer many benefits in warmer weather.

What are the benefits of wearing linen clothes in hot weather?

Temperature regulation: Due to its weave and the natural properties of flax fibres, linen fabric is breathable, allowing air to flow between the fibres. This keeps you cooler in hot weather, and the structure of the fabric means it billows softly away from your body, rather than clinging, which also keeps you cooler. Linen is the perfect fabric if you suffer from overheating or need to stay cool at work or on days out.

Moisture-wicking: When wearing a linen dress, linen blouse or any other piece of linen clothing the body is kept free of moisture. Linen fabric is highly absorbent and will quickly remove perspiration from the skin. Not only does linen absorb moisture, it quickly releases it back into the air. Due to its molecular structure linen cloth can absorb as much as 1/5 of its weight before it feels damp or wet. So, your linen shirt will absorb lots of perspiration and yet it’s unlikely it will ever feel clammy, as water evaporates off linen as quickly as off the surface of a puddle. Magically, water is both absorbed and evaporated quickly. Think of it as your linen clothing acting like an efficient cooling system.

Heat conductivity: As well as coolness and high absorbency, linen also boasts an innate ability to conduct heat. This means heat from your body can be conveyed through the fabric, escaping to keep you even cooler. It is estimated that the heat conductivity of linen is five times higher than wool and eighteen times higher than silk.

Heat reflectivity: Not only does linen fabric conduct heat away from the wearer, it also reflects heat too. Your linen blouse, linen dress or shirt’s ability to shade also ensures you stay comfortable in summer weather, without needing bulky layers.

As huge fans of linen clothing in summer, we love the fact that we will feel 3°-4°C cooler than people wearing silk or cotton. We know we will perspire 1.5 times less too, meaning we can take a day trip to the beach, have evening drinks on the terrace, ride the commute to work and meet friends for a picnic, safe in the knowledge that our linen clothing is working to keep us comfortable, feeling confident and looking great all season long.