Linen vs fresco

How each works

Linen is a hollow plant fibre that conducts heat away from the body and moves moisture faster than cotton. It feels actively cool. It also has almost no elasticity, so it creases immediately and permanently.

Fresco is a high-twist worsted wool woven open, so air passes straight through it. The high twist makes the yarn wiry and resilient, so it resists creasing and recovers when it does crease.

Which is cooler

Linen, in still air and at rest: the conduction is genuine and noticeable. Fresco, over a long day of moving between environments, because it breathes continuously and does not hold moisture against the skin.

Both are cooler than a light plain worsted, which is the cloth most people reach for in heat and the wrong answer.

How each looks after four hours

This is the decisive difference. A linen suit worn for an afternoon looks like a linen suit worn for an afternoon: creased across the lap, the elbows, the small of the back. Some people find that charming and it is a genuine aesthetic position.

A fresco suit looks essentially as it did at nine in the morning. For anyone who has to be presentable at the end of a hot day, that settles it.