Madras takes its name from the city on India's south-east coast now called Chennai, where weavers have made light, checked cotton cloth for centuries. It travelled far: to West Africa, where it became part of ceremonial dress; to the Caribbean, where it is still worn in the national costume of several islands; and, in the twentieth century, into summer wardrobes across Europe and America. Linen has travelled as far by a different road, and setting linen and madras side by side is a useful way of seeing what each cloth does in the heat.

The first difference is the fibre. Madras is cotton, a seed fibre: short, soft strands spun into yarn. Linen comes from flax, a bast fibre drawn from the stem of the plant, longer, stronger and smoother, with a natural lustre and a cooler hand. Of the two, linen is the one that feels cool on first touch, and it handles perspiration well. How the two fibres compare in general is covered in is linen cooler than cotton; madras is a particularly light expression of cotton, so the gap is narrower than it is with heavier cotton cloth.

The second difference is weave and colour. Traditional madras is a plain weave of yarns dyed before weaving and crossed into checks and plaids, often in strong reds, yellows, greens and blues. Some of the old cloth was coloured with natural dyes that ran in the wash, and "bleeding madras" was sold for exactly that quality: the checks softened and merged a little each time. Linen shirts are more often woven in a single colour, so the interest lies in the texture of the yarn, the slubs and slight irregularity described in linen slubs, rather than in a pattern.

On the body, both are light, open and comfortable in heat. Madras is soft from the first wear and drapes loosely; linen begins crisper and softens with each wash, gaining drape over years rather than months. Both crease in use. The pattern of madras disguises its creases, while the plainness of a linen shirt shows them, and that is part of its look. Neither is the stiff, pressed shirt of an office, a contrast drawn more fully in linen vs poplin.

Age is where they part most clearly. A madras shirt fades and loosens with washing, and its colours drift until the cloth looks thoroughly lived in. Linen is the stronger fibre and, looked after, lasts many years, its colour settling while the cloth becomes softer and more supple; the process is set out in how linen improves with wear.

The two also read differently. Madras is unmistakably casual and a little playful: a beach town, a boat club, a weekend lunch. Linen moves further in both directions, from the beach to a summer wedding or a dinner on a terrace, because a solid linen shirt can be dressed up with trousers and good shoes in a way a bright check seldom can. In the Caribbean, where madras has deep roots, the two can sit side by side, the check for the festival and the linen for the rest of the week; St Lucia's Creole Day is one example, described in what to wear in St Lucia for men.

For anyone drawn to madras for its colour, linen offers the same warmth in solid form. Among the PP linen shirts, the Cuba Linen Shirt in Orange or Lemon Yellow, the Laos Short Sleeve Linen Shirt in Mint Green and the Male linen shirt in Orange carry that brightness without a pattern. Paired with PP Casual Linen Trousers in Vanille or PP linen shorts in Beige, they give the holiday spirit of madras in the longer-lived fibre. The men's linen shirt colour guide goes through the full range.

Handloom madras is still woven in South India, though much of the cloth that carries the name today is made by machine elsewhere. The name has outlived the method; with linen, the method still shapes the cloth.

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