How To Clean A Linen Suit? The Complete Guide

I love linen suits, especially in the warmer months. They are light and breathable and make for great outfits for summer weddings.

But as with any other piece of clothing, linen suits also tend to get dirty. They are very easy to clean and require little to no maintenance.

There are various tricks and techniques to clean linen suits without harming them or destroying them. You can get them dry-cleaned… but you can also wash them at home, saving a fortune in the process.

And that’s exactly what you will get to learn about in this guide, which will make wearing linen a breeze for you (even in winter).

How To Wash A Linen Suit?

Washing a linen suit jacket is pretty simple and can easily be done at home. Remember, you do NOT have to pay a professional to clean your linen suit.

Just follow this simple process:

1. Button up your suit jacket

If it’s unbuttoned, there’s a chance that the button can come out or scratch against the rest of the jacket during the wash cycle. Because linen is a delicate fabric, you need to take proper precautions.

2. Make sure that the suit pants are inside out

As for the trouser portion of your linen suit, make sure that you turn the pant legs inside out. Doing this will serve as an added layer of protection to the outside of your pants (which are visible to everybody). If any white stain does appear, it will appear on the inside.

3. Pay special attention to stains

To treat a stain, put some water on it before you throw the jacket in the washing machine. Use a few drops of a dedicated stain cleaner on the spot. Rub the stain remover on the wet target area and let the suit absorb it.

4. Use cold water

Wash your linen suit in cold water or lukewarm water. Using extremely hot water may cause shrinkage, and should be avoided. But the water should also not be ice-cold, as that can lead to similar problems.

5. Go for a gentle wash cycle

Linen responds the best to gentle wash cycles. Because it is a delicate fabric, a lot of agitation can lead to tears and scratches on the surface of the suit. It is best to go for the “delicate” setting that is available on your washing machine.

And that’s basically it. If you follow these four steps, you will find that your linen suit has been perfectly cleaned. This is a foolproof method, and it would make your clothing stain-free.

How To Get Rid Of Stains Without Washing?

If you do not want to put your linen suit into a washing machine every time it gets a little stain; it’s completely understandable.

If you are at a party or an event and cannot rush to a washing machine right now, here’s what you need to do.

When it comes to stains on linen clothing, you need to act fast. Your main objective should be to prevent the stain from settling in. To do this, wet your fingers and start rubbing them over the stain. Use a tissue to absorb the excess water. Repeat this process until the stain is gone.

While some light stains might go away with this, for more stubborn stains, you would need to either hand-wash or machine wash your linen suit.

If even that doesn’t work, then there is no option except to send it to the dry cleaners.

Should Linen Suits Be Machine-washed Or Hand-washed?

Linen suits can be both machine-washed and hand-washed.

In the past, machine washing linen suits was considered a big no-no. This is due to the fact that the linen clothes in the market at that time were not pre-treated properly and shrunk a lot in the washing machine.

This is all but gone now.

Most linen garments can now be machine-washed without any worries. If you do not have access to a washing machine, you can also hand-wash them with relative ease. Both methods are completely safe.

I talked in detail about machine-washing linen suits in the previous section, so let me tell you about handwashing them in brief.

Take a bucket and fill it with cold or lukewarm water. Turn your linen suit pants inside out, and put them in the bucket. Also, put your jacket in the tub. Use a good-quality laundry detergent and rub the clothes until all the dirt is gone from them.

Do Linen Suits Need To Be Dry Cleaned?

Linen suits can be dry cleaned. But they don’t need to be dry cleaned, because they can also be washed at home.

And while we are on this point, let me also tell you something about the linen blazers that have “Dry clean only” written on their tags.

Most linen manufacturers write on their product tags that the garment is dry clean only in order to avoid responsibility. They know that if you wash a linen suit and something goes wrong, you are going to raise a complaint against the shop.

On the other hand, if you send it to the dry cleaner and something goes wrong, then you would obviously turn your attention towards the dry cleaner and not the company.

Thus, in order to avoid taking on the post-sales responsibilities, linen makes add the “dry clean only” tag to their suits.

Final Remarks

Here’s how to wash a linen suit:

1. Button up your suit jacket.
2. Make sure that the pants are inside out.
3. Pay special attention to stains.
4. Use cold or lukewarm water.
5. Go for a gentle/delicate cycle.

That’s everything you need to know about taking care of your linen suits. As I said earlier, it isn’t all that complicated.

But what if your linen suits don’t get so dirty in the first place. What if they are made with such high quality that they last you for years?

It is this question that I answered in my guide about the best linen suits for weddings. These are the suits that are going to last you a long-ass time, and they are going to look absolutely great for that duration.

Check it out if you are in the market for a new suit.