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The best linen suits for a lightweight sartorial upgrade
Soft, suave and so, so chic, here are the best linen suits you should be seen in this season.
All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
So lightweight and extremely crease-prone is the linen suit, surely only a French film director lounging in their gîte could pull off such a lofty suit material. Its flax fibre construction means that it doesn’t stretch much and is more resistant to wear than cotton, but also easy to crease. Yet, with each wash, it becomes marginally softer and shinier so that after about three to five years it blooms into its best, most wearable state.
Its low thread count (fine cotton starts at around 200, while linen’s count is usually between 80 and 150) makes it akin to a porous, breathable skin, particularly well adapted to warm climates. So, if the barrage of recent climate change reports predicting more extreme weather are anything to go by, the linen suit makes more and more sense with every season that passes.
Without further ado, here are the best linen suits for men that you can currently get your hands on. And, for the best in other suit styles, check out our catch-all guide to the best men’s suits available right now, as well as our guides to check suits, black suits, navy suits, green suits, pastel suits, wedding suits and summer suits.
Reiss linen suit | Sunspel white T-shirt
What are GQ's best linen suits for men?
You'll find all the linen suits worth your consideration in the gallery below, but first, here's what our editors are wearing this wedding season:
- Best overall linen suit: Percival, percivalclo.com
- Best budget linen suit: M&S, marksandspencer.com
- Best designer linen suit: Dries Van Noten, mrporter.com
What is the benefit of wearing a linen suit rather than other types?
Pure linen, linen blends, cotton linen – no matter its DNA makeup, all linen iterations are distinctly relaxed and lightweight. But why are they preferable over other types of fabrication? Well, truly it depends on seasonality and event. If you’re going to a winter wedding or something more corporate, a dark-hued wool blend suit should work a treat... but a sunny summer wedding? Battling your way through a heatwave in a two-piece suit? Or, god forbid, a blazer and a waistcoat? You’re going to want something breathable; you’re going to want linen.
How should I style a linen suit?
This is no buttoned-up, black tie tuxedo, this is a laid-back linen suit, primed and ready to take on any dress code in laissez-faire style. It’s for this reason that we’d lean into the louche nature of the linen fabric, trading dress shirts for camp-collar versions and Oxfords for loafers. Summer weddings aren’t made to be uber-formal, and neither was linen.
How do we select our favourite linen suits?
So, how exactly do we choose what constitutes the best linen suits for men in 2024? Simple. We know our stuff, we do our research, and we get out there to experience as much product as possible.
Our section head of menswear for GQ Recommends, Heidi Quill, is obsessed with clothes. Joining British GQ in 2021, Heidi might primarily look after clothing content, but she spends a healthy amount of time up to her neck in samples, checking product for the very best quality, price and design, all before recommending it to you. That includes knowing everything there is to know about an excellent linen suit.
Linen, ironically, is heating up. The fabrication of the moment, there's a difference between good linen and bad linen. Luckily for you, Heidi and our team of contributing writers and freelancers (Jessie Atkinson, Faye Fearon and Adam Cheung) have worn, loved, tried and tested the below products to bring you only the best. Scroll on for GQ's pick of the best linen suits in 2024…