With summer at our doorstep, let us tell you a bit more about linen clothes. Linen fabric has many attractive properties and all of them are most easily appreciated when wearing linen clothing. And we are not exaggerating when we say that linen tunics and dresses, linen shirts or linen pants are really irreplaceable in summer, when travelling and/or in hot and humid climate.
The main benefit of wearing linen clothes in hot weather is the coolness they provide. Thanks to the weave and linen fiber specifics linen fabric allows more airflow and it’s structure means it stays away from your skin allowing better airflow over your body. Linen is a “stiff” fabric and is less likely to cling to the skin; when it billows away, it quickly dries out and becomes cool again. Clothes made of linen possess high air permeability, which allows air to flow through the fabric easily and allows the body to breathe.
Another nice feeling one can have when wearing linen dress, linen blouse or any other piece of linen clothing is the body free of moisture. Linen is highly absorbent and a good conductor of heat. Your linen garment feels cool to the touch and linen fabric will quickly remove perspiration from the skin. Linen is capable of absorbing moisture and then and quickly yielding it again. Because of its molecular structure linen cloth can absorb as much as 1/5 of its weight before giving a feeling of being damp or wet. In other words – your linen shirt will absorb lots of perspiration and it is unlikely it will ever feel clammy – as water evaporates off linen as quickly as off the surface puddle. So, water is both absorbed and evaporated quickly. The result is your linen dress acting like an excellent cooling system.
Apart from coolness and high absorbency, linen has one more very favorable property – good heat conductivity characteristics. Heat conductivity refers to the extent to which heat can be conveyed through the fabric. As linen quickly allows the heat to escape, it further improves cooling. It is claimed, that heat conductivity of linen is five times higher than wool and eighteen times higher than silk.
One more thing – linen weave reflects heat better, too . This means linen blouse, linen dress or shirt has good “shading” properties as well and again – the wearer of linen clothing feels cooler.
All the team of Osonian wears mostly only linen and cotton clothes during summer and we can certainly tell that those dressed in linen clothes feel themselves 3°-4°C below that of silk or cotton-wearing people. It is also noticed that those wearing linen perspire 1.5 times less than when those dressed in cotton clothes and even less than those dressed in clothes from other materials.
All these properties allow linen to function well in hot and hot/humid conditions very well and significantly alleviate the effects of the heat and humidity on the wearer.
This means having linen clothes in your summer wardrobe is not only an idea – it’s a decision that will make you feel comfortable, confident, easy and pretty, too!