How to Care for Italian Linen

Good linen is sold to us as something that lasts - an heirloom fabric, softer with every wash, meant to outlive the person who bought it. Most of what shortens its life happens in the laundry, not at the table.

The fibre itself is the thing to protect. Flax is strong wet or dry, but heat is what breaks it down over time. Wash it in lukewarm or cold water, with a mild detergent, and keep it separate from towels, zippers and anything synthetic.

Air drying is the better habit - direct sun will fade colour over time, so a shaded line or a flat surface indoors is kinder than a sunny window. If a dryer is unavoidable, use the lowest heat setting.

Iron while the cloth is still slightly damp, on a medium-high heat - linen presses out far more easily wet than bone dry.

Store it somewhere cool, dark and dry.

One extra note for anything with embroidery or an openwork edge, which is most of what we carry - wash it inside out where you can, and skip the tumble dryer altogether. The stitching wears fastest under mechanical tumbling.

Treated this way, linen genuinely improves with age rather than simply surviving it.

Shop our linen collection, made slowly, by hand, in Italy.