14 Best Men's Linen Shirts 2025, Tested and Reviewed by GQ

“J.Crew’s linen shirts return every spring and summer for a reason,” says GQ style commerce writer Gerald Ortiz. “The fabric is top-notch, they come in a variety of silhouettes that fit just about everyone, and they're available in a gang of great colors and patterns.” Ortiz says that the linen fabric feels especially cool to the touch and silky smooth. “For the price, quality, and variety, why would you go anywhere else?”

Materials: 100% linen | Sizes: XS - XXL | Fit: Tailored

Drake’s remains a stalwart in the sartorial field. We love the British label’s sharp suits, shaggy sweaters, and meticulously crafted button-ups. Naturally, its linen shirts are top tier, as well. Unlike many cheaper linens, they’re made with a thicker, more substantial linen that achieves that elusive rumple—not wrinkle—that’s indicative of a higher-quality linen. With an impeccably clean, yet still airy, fit, mother of pearl buttons, and flawless single-needle construction, the quality is, unsurprisingly, very impressive. What sets the Drake’s shirt apart is something you won’t even see and that’s with the collar. It’s constructed with a floating interlining which give the collar structure and prevents it from going unattractively limp. Because, while the charm of a linen shirt is its wrinkles, nobody likes a wimpy, shriveled up collar.

Materials: 100% cotton | | Sizes: XS - XXL | Fit: Boxy

Sometimes, a style of shirt works well in linen. And sometimes, it absolutely thrives in linen. Camp shirts are the latter—and Bather's riff is one of our favorites, period. It starts with an assertive, unambiguous camp collar before moving into three (3!) pockets at the front—including two at the hem that offer more utility than you might imagine—and ends with an easy-going flat hem that works well buttoned or open. The linen fabric is robust, which lends it just a bit of structure, but because it’s linen, it stays airy regardless of the thermometer reading. Just because it’s called the Traveler shirt doesn’t mean you won’t love it at home.

This isn't the first time we've waxed eloquent on Bather's signature button-up: way back in 2022, GQ contributor Eugene Lardy penned the definitive ode to the style, which ended his quest to find the platonic summer shirt. Lardy praised the shirt for how cool it looked, sure, but also how cool he felt wearing it, “like a welcome midday breeze” was gently buffeting his torso. “What I initially thought was going to be a fairly straightforward camp shirt,” Lardy wrote, “ended up revolutionizing my summer fits. I can’t take it off. Its breathable construction makes it ideal for warm weather layering, and those nifty trio of pockets offer a level of functionality I never knew I was missing.”

Materials: 100% French Linen | Sizes: XS - XXXL | Fit: Relaxed

We're not going pretend like there’s anything wrong with wearing a plain-Jane cotton T-shirt in the summer—the more threadbare the better. Compared to linen, though, cotton isn’t actually all that breathable, and it dries like paint. Which is precisely where Alex Crane's perfectly nubby pure linen joint comes in. It’s made with 100% sustainably-grown linen, which adapts to rising temperatures faster than you ever will, and washed with biodegradable softeners to help it feel like a beat-up tee you already know and love. Just, y'know, better.

“To keep it a buck, I never though I'd recommend a linen tee,” Grossman confesses. “But enough of my buddies keep asking about ‘em, so I did my due diligence.” T-shirts are notoriously difficult to perfect, but Alex Crane nails the details; Grossman has yet to hear from a friend who regrets the purchase. “Nine months of the year, I prefer a slimmer cut and a tighter neckline,” he says, “but this is exactly how a tee should fit when you're sweating through your fifth park hang in as many weeks.”

Alex Mill

Polo Stripe Sweater

$175

Alex Mill

We'll happily contest the 'sweater' designation, but we won't argue that this linen-blend polo thing is handsome as hell. With a relaxed fit and drop shoulders a la '90s silhouettes, it looks killer with a pair of baggy shorts and beat-up sneakers.

Buck Mason

Draped Linen S/S Camp Collar Shirt

$168

Buck Mason

A luncheonette-worthy camp collar combined with a crazy light linen twill. The fabric's light sheen gives the shirt a overall vintage vibe.

Madewell

Button-up Shirt in Cotton-Linen Blend

$118

Madewell

If you’re keeping linen confined to the poolside, you’re missing out. Madewell's elegant, vintage-inflected joint is ready for any fancy dinner you have in the calendar.

Brioni

Button-Down Collar Linen Shirt

$645

Mr Porter

Brioni inhabits rarified air in the sartorial space and this handmade linen shirt is just the tip of the iceberg. The linen is cool, crisp, and luxurious. The stitching is super tight and flawless. And the hidden button-down collar gives the collar an elegant shape you can't find anywhere else.

Portugese Flannel

Camp-Collar Linen Shirt

$140

Mr Porter

We’re not saying you need a black linen shirt for summer, but we are saying that a good black linen shirt will become indispensable the moment you get it.

Evan Kinori

Pocket Tee

$105

Evan Kinori

This hemp-blend tee from the artisanal brand Evan Kinori features vintage details like a single-needle hem and inset ribbed collars, and a garment-dyed lived-in feel. Made in collaboration with Lady White Co., this is the tee you'll want to save for nice occasions (but shouldn't).

Todd Snyder

Cropped Sea Soft Irish Linen Camp Collar Shirt

$178

Todd Snyder

Made of breezy, top-shelf Irish linen, Todd Snyder's camp collar shirt feels like a multi-hyphenate layer more than just a shirt. Wear it as a lightweight jacket over a tee or on its own, bare clavicles and all.

Kartik Research

Embroidered Linen Shirt

$505

Mr Porter

Handloomed linen, hand-embroidered details, mother-of-pearl buttons, and no electricty involved in its making, Kartik Research's raw-edge shirt is a work of art. And though you might be sticker shocked, the intense labor involved will have you shocked for how reasonable the price actually is.

• Price: Like all fabrics, there’s a spectrum when it comes to linen quality, and most of the time, the good stuff is going to cost you. It’s worth it—not only will it last longer, but high-quality linen tends to wear better as well. That being said, be wary of the super pricey: expensive doesn't necessarily mean better, and affordable doesn't always mean bad. During our testing, there were $70 shirts that surprised us and $500 shirts that let us down—but for the most part, the best of the bunch landed squarely between those two extremes.
• Fabric: For this guide, we chose to prioritize shirts that were either 100% linen or those that had other natural fibers blended in, like cotton or hemp. A “linen blend,” for instance, means it has more than just linen in it, which can be great for a number reasons—it can lower the costs, make it a touch more amenable to a washing machine, and won’t wrinkle as much as 100% linen shirts will—but it also means that the benefits of linen will be tamped down a bit too. If you’re looking for something a bit more familiar or a bit easier to care for, a blend is great. If you’re looking for the unadulterated linen experience, the pure, uncut variety is the way to go.
• Fit: When choosing the size and silhouette, it’s important to remember that linen is a less-forgiving fabric than cotton, which means it won’t stretch nearly as much. And while we love, and recommend, a sized-up, breezy linen shirt, you don’t need to go full ‘90s Armani to make it work. Just make sure the shirt isn’t pulling at the chest, for instance, or super tight around the arms. Not only will they not stretch the same way cotton will, you’ll also be putting more stress on the seams, fabric and buttons.

We make every effort to cast as wide of a net as possible, with an eye on identifying the best options across three key categories: quality, fit, and price.

To kick off the process, we enlist the GQ Recommends braintrust to vote on our contenders. Some of the folks involved have worked in retail, slinging clothes to the masses; others have toiled for small-batch menswear labels; all spend way too much time thinking about what hangs in their closets.

We lean on that collective experience to guide our search, culling a mix of household names, indie favorites, and the artisanal imprints on the bleeding-edge of the genre. Then we narrow down the assortment to the picks that scored the highest across quality, fit, and price.

Across the majority of our buying guides, our team boasts firsthand experience with the bulk of our selects, but a handful are totally new to us. So after several months of intense debate, we tally the votes, collate the anecdotal evidence, and emerge with a list of what we believe to be the absolute best of the category right now, from the tried-and-true stalwarts to the modern disruptors, the affordable beaters to the wildly expensive (but wildly worth-it) designer riffs.

Whatever your preferences, whatever your style, there's bound to be a superlative version on this list for you. (Read more about GQ's testing process here.)

• Gerald Ortiz, GQ Style Commerce Writer
• Reed Nelson, GQ Contributor
• Avidan Grossman, GQ Senior Commerce Editor