Linen Weight Explained: What Grammage Changes in a Shirt

Two shirts can both be 100% linen and behave in completely different ways. The difference has a number, and it almost never appears on the label.

It is called grammage, it is measured in grams per square metre, and it is the most consequential decision anyone makes when designing a piece in linen.

What grammage measures

Grams per square metre, written g/m². It is the weight of the cloth, not its thickness or its quality. A heavy linen is not better than a light one. It is a different thing, for a different job.

There is no standard that fixes what a shirt should weigh. In practice, summer shirting linen is offered somewhere between 110 and 200 grams, and this is what changes across that span:

• Between 110 and 135 grams. Very light. Cool, but translucent against the light and without structure. It clings to the body instead of falling straight. Right for an open overshirt, not for a piece worn buttoned.
• Between 145 and 165 grams. The working range. Enough weight for the cloth to fall under its own weight and to be opaque, light enough to breathe on a thirty-degree day.
• Between 175 and 200 grams. Structured. Excellent for trousers, waistcoats and jackets, where the piece has to hold its shape. Too heavy for a summer shirt.

Why 155

We chose 155 g/m² for the whole linen line, and the reason is three concrete problems.

Opacity

A white shirt in light linen, held against the light, shows what is underneath. This is not a question of modesty. It is a question of the garment failing in half the situations in which you would want to wear it. At 155 grams, in a closely woven cloth, that stops happening.

Drape

Linen has no stretch. It does not mould itself to the body as a knit does; it falls from the shoulder. That fall is what makes a linen piece look composed rather than crumpled, and it depends entirely on there being enough weight for the cloth to hang straight. Below 140 grams the fabric floats. It gains movement and loses its line.

Durability with repeated wear

Linen is one of the strongest natural fibres. But a very light cloth has less fibre per centimetre to spread the strain, and it wears first at the stress points: elbows, collar, side seams. At 155 grams there is more fibre to share that strain, which increases durability, provided the piece is looked after properly.

What grammage does not solve

No weight stops linen creasing. Flax cellulose is highly crystalline and recovers poorly from a fold, so the crease is structural rather than superficial. A heavy linen creases in broader, softer folds, a light one in fine, tight lines, but both crease.

Anyone selling you linen that does not crease is selling you a blend with polyester, or a resin finish, and you have the right to know that before you pay.

How to check before you buy

If the grammage is not stated, three tests work with the piece in your hand:

• Against the light. Hold the fabric up to a window. If you can make out the shape of your hand through it, it is too light to wear buttoned.
• Hung from the shoulder. Hold the piece by the shoulder and let it drop. It should fall straight and settle. If it sways, it lacks weight.
• Crushed in the hand. Close your fist over the fabric, count to five, open it. Good linen keeps a broad crease that opens on its own after a few minutes on a hanger. Weak linen keeps a fine crease that only an iron will remove.

Our collection

The D'HERITAGE linen garments are made in the same cloth: European linen at 155 g/m², in five colours. Shirt and blouse, shirt dress, waistcoat, and men's and women's trousers.

Made in Vila de Cucujães, in the north of Portugal. See the collection.