Massimo Alba Arubaw Polo Shirt

Linen is difficult to knit. It has almost no elasticity, the fibre is long and stiff, and a jersey made mostly of it behaves nothing like the cotton piqué a polo shirt is usually built from. That difficulty is the reason to want it. Two thirds linen gives the fabric a dry, slightly papery handle and an open structure that moves air, so it stays cool in a way a dense piqué does not, and it drapes from the shoulder instead of sitting on it. The third that is cotton is doing the practical work, adding enough give that the collar and the placket recover their shape. The result reads less like a sports shirt and more like a knitted summer shirt with a collar, which is a more useful thing to own.

The polo is the garment most likely to be bought badly, and a good one is mostly a question of what it is knitted from. This is the one we found that does not go slack.

Sixty-seven percent linen, thirty-three percent cotton jersey, made in Italy. Short sleeve, regular fit. Colours: Bianco and Blu.

Regular fit, meaning it skims rather than fits, which suits the cloth. Linen jersey relaxes across a day and comes back with washing, so a shirt that feels precise in the morning and easy by evening is doing what it should. It will crease at the elbow and across the back. That is linen and it is not a fault.

It is made in two colours and they do different work. Bianco is the one that does the most with the least, against the Lois trousers or the Agone2 shorts, and it is the version to buy if you are buying one. Blu is the one to put under something: the Bali jacket in hemp, where two dry cloths against each other are better than that sounds. Worn out rather than tucked, either way.

Wash cool, reshape while damp, and dry flat rather than on a hanger, because a linen knit will lengthen if you hang it wet. Our general care guidance covers the rest.

The Nizza Shirt is the plain cotton jersey. The Selma Shirt and the Lois Trousers are the linen, and the Bali Jacket in hemp goes over them. There is more on the house on the Massimo Alba designer page. Everything we carry from Massimo Alba is listed together.