Washing Your Linen
Linen Minded
Linen is a natural fiber and needs specific care. It doesn’t react the same to various cleaning methods as other fibers. It is a living material. The more you use and wash it, the more precious and soft it becomes. Above you’ll find our cheat sheet for washing your linen, with more details below.
Before you start
- Take your time to completely unfold or loosely shake up your linen.
- Linen absorbs a lot of water, so it is best not to overload the machine and have sufficient water in it.
- Pillow shams and duvet covers can be washed inside out.
Set and load
- Always wash matching table linen and bed linen together to allow them to wear at the same rate.
- Wash your pieces with like colors. Even though the dye in our linen is wash proof, it is better to separate white laundry from colored.
- To avoid pilling, we recommend to separate natural fabrics from synthetic fabrics.
- Select a gentle wash and spin cycle.
Easy on the detergent
- As linen is a natural product, we suggest to use the right washing agents: mild, biodegradable or natural detergents.
- When washing with soft water, you can use mild soaps.
- Avoid laundry detergent that contains any type of bleach. Bleach based on chlorine is acidic and affects the fibers in the fabric, weakening your linen over time. Moreover, chlorine is not very environmentally friendly. Oxygen based bleaching agents have less impact on the environment. Never use bleach on colored linen!
- Unless your linen is very soiled, we suggest to use only half of the recommended amount of detergent.
- Avoid the use of fabric softeners, as these apply an artificial coat on the linen. This will prevent the fibers from breathing. With a little patience, your linen will obtain a unique lushness over time.
- Add a touch of vinegar when rinsing colored linen. This will help prevent color fading.
The right temperature
- Always take the specific washing instructions on the label into account when washing linen. If there are none, we recommend to wash white linen at 50-60° (120 – 140°F) and colored linen at 30-40°C (85°F).
- When washing your linen in warm water, finish with a full, cool rinse to remove all soap, detergent and residual soil.
- Unless otherwise mentioned on the washing instructions, you can dry-clean your linen. For some of our products, like curtains, we recommend dry-cleaning only, to avoid shrinkage. When turning to a dry cleaner, try to find out whether solvents are regularly changed. If they are not, there is a risk that your white linen may turn gray or yellow.
