Care notes

Washing linen without ruining it

Linen has a reputation for being high maintenance. It is not. It has exactly two enemies, and both of them live in your laundry room: hot water and a hot dryer. Keep those away and a pair of linen pants will outlast most of the cotton in your closet.

The wash itself

Machine wash, cold, with anything of a similar color. Flax fiber is stronger wet than cotton is, so the drum does not scare it. Use less detergent than the cap suggests; residue is what makes linen feel stiff, not the fiber. Skip fabric softener entirely, it coats the yarn and kills the breathability you bought the pants for.

Drying

Hang them. Linen drips dry fast, and gravity pulls most wrinkles out while it does. If you must tumble, use the lowest heat and pull the pants out while slightly damp. High heat is the setting that shrinks flax, not washing. One hot cycle can take a waistband down half a size, and there is no stretching it back.

Wrinkles, and how much to care

Some. Wrinkles are the texture of the fabric, and a loose wide leg carries them the way a good jacket carries creases at the elbow. The line to hold is fresh-off-the-hanger rumple versus slept-in. A five minute hang in a steamy bathroom resets a pair between wears without a wash.

The first wash is the best one

New linen arrives at its crispest and softens noticeably after the first cold wash, then keeps softening for a dozen more. Reviewers who write that the fabric felt stiff on arrival almost always come back to say it broke in. Wash it once before you judge it.