I have been afraid to wear white most of my life, and that fear got more extreme when I had children with their grubby paws all over me. This was before I fell in love with linen. Linen is one of the most widely used fabrics throughout textile history and the reasons are clear.
- Linen is made from the flax plant and requires very little pesticides to grow properly
- Linen dries quickly
- Linen is durable and long lasting
- Linen has anti-allergic and anti-bacterial properties
- Linen ventilates and insulates well. It draws heat away from the body, keeping you cool in the warmer months and warm during the cold months of the year.
- It is the second strongest fabric after silk. Linen is about 30% stronger than cotton, making linen fabrics durable for several decades.
But in addition to everything listed above, linen is extremely stain resistant, and I promise I have tested this theory. I find myself with an odd satisfaction getting my white line extremely dirty. I thrash hard in my white linen. Before I wash I do a bit of spot treatment with oxy clean. I let it sit for 5 minutes and then I wash in the machine, and I am being sincere when I say no linen item I have ever worn has held a stain, and this goes for my white linen as well.
Three years ago I took a trip to Hawaii. I had found cheap flights and decided to book on a whim. I then realized how expensive accommodation is in Hawaii, and so the decision for a 2 week backpacking and camping trip was born. When I travel it's very important for me to make content and so I brought exclusively Shelter linens. As I packed my Ivory linen Eva shorts the thought crossed my mind ‘how will these do without a shower, a washing machine, in the back of trucks and sleeping on the beach’? These shorts were worn about half my trip, they were washed in bathroom sinks, and almost lost while washing in the waves with a sand abrasive.
Lets just say, those same Ivory linen Eva shorts are still my day to day shorts, 3 years later. No stains or extensive signs of wear.
This is all to say, as an adventurous, ice cream eating, mother of two, wear the white linen, bring it on your adventures, don't let your whites inhibit your life.
-Alison
Alison wears Ivory Eva pants + Ivory Kai tank
Alison wears Black Eva shorts, Black Kai Tank and Black Lloyd
Alison wears Ivory Eva shorts + Ivory Kai tank
Alison wears Boheme shorts + bra and her Chestnut Lloyd