Linen has two best uses in clothing; as Summer outer clothes, or against the skin underclothes all year round.
It lost out to cotton in the race to be produced mechanically simply because it's best feature, the long fibre length, and the need to be spun damp, didn't suit the emerging industrialisation of textile manufacturing.
Cotton, a very short staple (3cms is looooong for cotton) fibre is easily spun by machine and it creates a lovely thread for weaving. It's adaptable too, it can be woven as sheeting, as twill for denim or fluffly like flannel or knitted for tshirts, vests and underpants. For outer wear tight spun and tightly woven it makes ventile, or waxed for oilskins and wax jackets. Looped soft spun makes excellent towelling.
It's a thirsty fibre though; it absorbs lots and lots of water, and it holds it. Swells the fibres and stops more water getting through, as in ventile, or stops us dripping everywhere when used as towels
Cotton is the seed fibres from the boll. Basically it's supposed to dry out in the heat and help dispersal of the seeds.
That staple length is the opposite for linen. Eventually the manufacturers sussed out how to spin long staple and then damp weave the cloth.
Linen is a water transport fibre with it's walls collapsed. It sheds water, doesn't trap it can't carry it along it's core any more, but sheds it from it's skin.
However, linen was produced by free farmers. Cotton was produced by slave labour and was much cheaper.
Eventually linen became a luxury crop and textile.
Cotton is a thirsty crop, it is high pesticide and high pollution, but the manufacturing is cheap once the fibres are picked.
Linen machinery aged, and technology didn't improve. Eventually it was simpler to cut those beautiful long fibres into short lengths and spin them that way
Short length linen used to be called tow and was turned into poor quality fabric or good rope. Tow rag, not toe rag to describe an unruly child. Messy with bits of hair sticking out kind of thing.
Nowadays, one can find good quality linen, with longish staple length, and it's a superb cloth, lasts for hundreds of years (the Queen is still using Queen Victoria's table linens for instance, and I'm still using my great grandmother's
) but it's really expensive. A pillowslip will set you back nearly £50.
Medium quality linen is good stuff though, it lasts well and it's comfortable.
The more you wear it the more tiny, tiny wee micro fractures in the fibres allow it to bend rather than crease and it softens and becomes the most comfortable clothing you'll ever wear
It's not a heating layer though, but it's a wicking layer, it doesn't smell the way cotton can, it doesn't stay sweaty, and it protects the outer layers from bodily fluids and grime.
That said, mind the tow linen I mentioned ? well, too much 'linen' available isn't really as good as it should be. If it goes oosy, pooky, then it's not good linen, it's very mediocre stuff, and it'll wear much more quickly than long staple.
It's not the fibres fault, it's the manufacturers who cut the staple to spin short and thus cut costs.
However, in Northern and Eastern Europe folks did hang onto good linen production methods, and we do get a lot of really good linen coming in. There's still really good linen produced in Scotland, for furnishing fabrics though, and Irish linen can be very, very good indeed.
Basically most folks want cheap fabric. All too often though they get what they pay for and it's not the best use of the material.
Hamish's breeks are how linen ought to last...the first jeans were made of linen because it was so hard wearing.
Hemp is another bast fibre like linen and there's a lot of superb European hemp cloth available. It too lasts really well, is comfortable in wear and is a bit cheaper than linen.
Given a choice of cotton or linen, I'd choose the linen, and wear it until it's 'mine' kind of thing
Just my tuppence ha'penny worth
cheers,
M
worn them through trekking, camping, working, swimming and theyre still going strong! i also wear linen breeks alot
