Linen is, of course, the quintessential summer fabric – known for its softness, it’s drape and above all, we admire linen for its coolness in warm temperatures, its smooth handle and its rugged, worn-in feel.

This season, as well as a complement of jackets and sports coats cut in wool, silk and linen blend cloths, which combine the best of all these different fibres for superior performance (see our Ely, Appleton and Wraysbury jackets), we’ve designed a trio of ‘Lingwood’ suits, all cut in luxurious linen twill, woven by Solbiati in Italy.

Solbiati is to summer cloths what Ferrari is to supercars – the quintessential choice. An historic mill in Piedmont, Solbiati’s linens are prized for their luxuriousness and their superior performance. Heavy linen twill cloths like these are rare to find nowadays, and make up into tailored jackets and trousers that feel reassuringly substantial, but remain comfortable to wear.

Our Lingwood linen suit in cream is available with the choice of either a single or double-breasted jacket, and high-waisted, pleated trousers finished with two-inch turn-ups, a fob pocket and belt loops. This piece makes for a great summer occasion suit, or a suit to wear to weddings overseas. The mid-blue version of Lingwood is cut from the same linen twill, in a single-breasted style with a three-roll-two jacket and patch pockets. Finally, our olive Lingwood linen safari jacket and can be paired with matching single-pleated trousers for a relaxed two-piece suit.

Suiting and separates aside, linen also features in our summer shirting, and is just the thing to add an informal edge to a tailored look. Again, we use the very best linen shirting throughout the collection, sourced from mills in Italy that use raw fibres grown in Normandy’s Terre de Lin region. Linen is harvested from flax plants, which flower in June and are picked in July. The raw fibres then go through three processes called pulling, retting and scutching. Like milling and scouring wool, these remove impurities from the raw material, and result in a strong but lightweight cloth that softens beautifully over time as it is worn and washed – perfect for summer shirts.

This season, we’re offering a trio of linen button-down shirts, two are plain blue; our Aspen shirt is available in sky, and the Rowan shirt comes in cool mid-blue. These are versatile wardrobe foundations and work comfortably dressed up or down. The third is our Penhurst shirt in a confident mustard and navy gingham, which looks the part dressed with our chinos on the weekends. All our button-downs are made to exemplary standards, with French side-seams, a deconstructed collar with a rich roll and a split back yoke for freedom of movement.

Our other linen shirts are cut with soft spread collars that are designed to present a more relaxed appearance in warm weather – well suited to wearing open at the neck. Try our Crowhurst checked shirt in forest green, burgundy and blue beneath a navy high-twist blazer, or our Linden black, olive and tan striped linen shirt beneath the aforementioned cream Lingwood suit.

So, whether you’re in need of a comfortable shirt for warm weekends, or a linen suit to take you through the summer season, our linen collection is the perfect place to start.