Fibre encyclopedia
Linen
Also called linen · flax · lin · LI
Stem fibre from the flax plant. Stronger wet than dry, quick to let water go, and stiff enough to crease along a fold.
Class
Natural
Comes from
From a plant
Where it comes from
Flax is a stem crop. The fibre runs the length of the stem and has to be loosened from the woody core by retting, which is controlled rotting in water or dew, before it can be combed and spun. European labelling rules name this fibre flax or linen, and name ramie separately.
How it feels to wear
Air
Air moves through the fibre easily
Water
Takes water into the fibre
Heat
Lets body heat go
Stretch
No stretch of its own
Wear
Holds up to hard rubbing
Linen fibre is long and stiff, and it gains strength when wet rather than losing it. It takes water in and releases it faster than cotton, which is why it feels cool in a humid room. The stiffness that makes it fall in flat panels is the same stiffness that holds a crease where the cloth was folded.
Care
- Wash cool. Linen tolerates water well.
- Do not wring. Twisting sets creases into the fibre.
- Iron damp, on the reverse side.
Linen softens with washing rather than wearing out, because the fibre bundles separate a little further each time.
End of life
Recycling route
Mechanical recycling
Long stem fibre survives shredding better than cotton does, so recycled linen keeps more of its length. The route is small because the volume of linen in the waste stream is small.
In a blend
Linen blended with cotton can go into the same shredding route; blended with polyester it cannot be separated.
Skin notes
Mechanical
Linen fibre is coarser than cotton and the yarn surface is more irregular, so new linen is felt as a firmer hand against the skin.
Chemical
Bleaching and softening finishes are common on linen, and the label states neither.
If your skin reacts to a garment, a dermatologist and patch testing are what can answer it. A label cannot, and neither can this page.
What the label cannot tell you
The label says linen. It does not say whether the fibre was retted in water or on the field, and that step is what decides how fine and how even the yarn could be.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 on textile fibre names and related labelling, Annex I. Checked 22 August 2026
- ISO 3758:2023, Textiles, care labelling code using symbols. Checked 22 August 2026
Written from primary sources and in our own words. Where a figure could not be traced to a source anyone can open, it is not printed here.
Read the label you are holding
The scan surface reads one care label and names which questions it answers and which it leaves out. A passport says for one specific piece what a label cannot: the composition with its percentages, where the cloth came from, who worked on it, how to repair it and where it goes next.