Short version: cold machine wash on a gentle cycle, mild detergent, hang to dry in the shade. Linen is one of the easiest fabrics to look after, and most of the damage people do to it comes from treating it like something delicate.
Does linen shrink?
A little, once, in the first wash — usually around 3 to 4 percent if it hasn't been pre-shrunk. Everything we sell is pre-washed, so what you get is what you keep. What causes real shrinkage afterwards is heat: hot water and a hot dryer. Keep both out of the picture and the piece stays the size you bought.
Can you put linen in the dryer?
You can, but don't make a habit of it. A hot cycle shrinks the fibres and roughens the surface over time. If you're in a hurry, tumble on low and pull it out while it's still slightly damp, then hang it — the weight of the water pulls most of the creasing out on its own.
The wash, step by step
- Cold water, gentle cycle. Warm water isn't a disaster, but cold is kinder and linen doesn't need heat to come clean.
- Mild detergent, and not much of it. Linen holds detergent residue, which is what makes an old shirt feel stiff and grey. Use about half what you'd normally tip in.
- No fabric softener. It coats the fibre and blocks the thing linen is best at — absorbing moisture and letting air through. Linen softens on its own with every wash; softener just gets in the way.
- No bleach, including the optical brighteners in some “whitening” powders. On natural linen they turn white pieces slightly blue over time.
- Don't overload the drum. Linen needs room to move or it comes out creased in hard folds that are difficult to shift.
Drying
Hang it while it's wet, in the shade. Direct Australian sun will fade colour faster than anything else you do to a garment, and it makes white linen brittle over years. A shaded line or an airing rack near an open window is ideal.
Give the piece a firm shake and smooth the seams flat with your hands before you hang it. Two seconds of that saves you the iron entirely.
Ironing, if you want to
Iron linen while it's still slightly damp, on a medium-hot setting, and press from the reverse side on darker colours to avoid a shine. If it has already dried stiff, mist it with water and leave it a minute before you start.
But here's the honest position: linen creases. That's the fabric doing its job. The looseness in the weave is what lets air move through it, and that same looseness is what folds when you sit down. A linen shirt that looks pressed at 6pm has usually been blended with something synthetic. If crease-resistance matters more to you than breathability, our linen blends hold a line longer.
Stains
Deal with them while they're wet. Blot, don't rub — rubbing pushes the stain deeper into an open weave. Cold water and a little mild detergent worked in with your fingers handles most food and drink. Oil needs a drop of dish soap first. Let it sit ten minutes, then wash as normal.
Storing it
Fold rather than hang for long storage; heavy linen pieces can stretch at the shoulder on a thin hanger over a season. Keep it somewhere dry — linen is a natural fibre and it will mildew in a damp cupboard. Don't store it in plastic for months, it needs to breathe.
What actually ruins linen
In order: hot dryers, direct sun, too much detergent, and fabric softener. Avoid those four and a linen shirt will outlast most of what's hanging next to it — and it gets softer every year rather than worse.