Linen suit care?

[Cid]

Hello.

I have been an observer of this forum for a few months, and sincerely appreciate advice gleaned from the many sensible posts. I hope you can lend some wisdom to help me determine the best way to care for linen suits while traveling.

This summer, I purchased a good bit of RLPL garments - long story short, I was a Sr. Product Manager for Polo Boys in NYC in the 90s, stocked up on a wardrobe a'plenty, and recently decided to upgrade... especially in the tailored clothing range.

I live in and travel the Carolinas for business, and this summer was a scorcher with a slew of >100F degree temp days. I went full on (in a good way it seems) and bought a buttery linen RLPL suit, several RLPL pants, an RL Congressman model linen sport coat, and a Polo label linen jacket on which I had to have shoulder surgery done at no small expense. In all, have been very pleased with each in terms of comfort, fit and look.

Given that linen is naturally wrinkle prone and that I travel for business (mostly by car, some by plane, 3 nights per week in a hotel on average), how would you advise me to minimize the wrinkles?

I have googled this subject and searched AAAC, but found contradictions. Some recommend steaming with a travel steamer, and some are adamently opposed to steaming a linen garment. What are the pros/cons?

For those who are not fans of linen, yet are still reading this post, I also got some RLPL gabardine pants and sport coat + a wool/angora 3pc RLPL (same as this)... Once I recover from "the spree," I'll continue to be interested in RLPL/RLBL 42L and 35/36W and will keep an eye out here for any opportunities and information (Holdfast's charcoal birdseye came up a little to early for me, unfortunately...). edmorel has also been perking my interest in the Incotex.

Cheers!

 

[Qasimkhan]

Linen is by its very nature wrinkled, so you should not worry about most wrinkles.

However, I can imagine that if your linen clothes are packed in a suitcase 3 nights a week, they would get far too wrinkled. Normally, I don't worry about the wrinkles in linen clothing, but in your case you might want to steam them out in the hotel bathroom or with a travel steamer. I haven't tried a steamer, but my experience is that shower steam only reduces and does not remove the wrinkles in a linen suit.

Careful and neat packing might also help.

Steve

 

[Holdfast]

Pack the suit carefully, and preferably interleaved with thin paper. Try to place it somewhere in your luggage where it's unlikely to move around too much.

After a wearing, just leave it to hang for as long as possible between wearings. Most wrinkles will fall out after a couple of days, I find.

Originally Posted by RLlikes

... I'll continue to be interested in RLPL/RLBL 42L and 35/36W and will keep an eye out here for any opportunities and information (Holdfast's charcoal birdseye came up a little to early for me, unfortunately...). edmorel has also been perking my interest in the Incotex.

Never fear, I'm sure more bargains will arise sooner or later.

 

[mbell]

Originally Posted by RLlikes

I have googled this subject and searched AAAC, but found contradictions. Some recommend steaming with a travel steamer, and some are adamently opposed to steaming a linen garment. What are the pros/cons?

I'm curious about any reasons for not steaming linen. The referenced page doesn't give any reasons. It seems like steam would have to be less harsh than dry cleaning. I've steamed my linen pants and jackets and noticed no ill effects. Linen shirts I wash on delicate cycle, hang to dry and iron while damp.

mike

 

[Panzeraxe II]

I agree. I have a great linen odd jacket that I steam all the time with no ill-effects.

 

[Tomasso]

I too use a steamer on linen, though an iron works better. Additionally, dry cleaners use a steam press on linen, so where's the problem?

 

[Cid]

Thanks for the insight.

As for the web content recommending against steaming linen, I found a couple of webpage references to the same... but no explanation.

 

[epa]

My cleaning lady irons my linen jackets, but I have instructed her to do it carefully and not bother about getting all the minor wrinkles out.
Also, I have a jacket that is half linen half cotton and it wrinkles far less. Maybe an interesting option?

 

[Naturlaut II]

Wrinkles from wear and wrinkles from folding and packing are two different things. The former is okay while the latter is unsightly. I don't see the problem of using an iron or steamer though.

 

[Leslierc]

I have several linen suits that I wore this summer and I always steamed them before I hung them up after wearing with no ill effects.

 

[FillW]

So is it safe to iron a linen jacket with a steam iron or not?

I just bought a nice one that doesn't even need any alterations.