What is a visitor really asking when they look for a linen brand to trust in Athens? Usually two things at once. They want a shirt that will make the city bearable in July, and they want to know that what they are paying for is the real article rather than a label. Athens offers linen at every level, from the tourist lanes of Plaka to the international houses around Voukourestiou Street in Kolonaki. The differences between them are not always visible on a hanger. They are visible in the fibre, in the paperwork and in the making, and those three things are worth understanding before choosing.

Begin with the fibre. Linen is spun from flax, and the flax with the longest reputation is grown in the damp coastal belt of Western Europe that runs from Normandy through Belgium into the Netherlands. Long-staple fibre spins into smoother, stronger yarn, and smoother yarn weaves into a cloth with a cleaner surface. Linen made from shorter fibre can look similar when new and behave very differently after a season.

Then the paperwork. Belgian Linen is a registered certification mark, which means that cloth carrying it has been woven in Belgium from European flax and can be traced. It is the simplest way for a customer to distinguish a claim from a fact. The core of the PP collection is certified Belgian linen, and each of those garments comes with a certificate of origin. Certain colourways in the collection are made in natural linen that does not carry the mark, and PP describes them as linen, without the Belgian name. The Journal's guide to 100% Belgian linen sets out the distinction.

Then the making. PP garments are handmade in the house's Dubai atelier and in Belgium. Men's shirts close with seashell buttons, with the exception of the Monte-Carlo Male, which carries walnut. Men's shorts and trousers close with walnut. The cloth and the buttons are natural materials that can return to the earth, which is what the house means when it says biodegradable by design. In a shop these points can be checked by hand: turn the garment inside out, look at the seams, feel the weight and coolness of a button that was once part of a shell.

In Athens, PP is presented at One&Only Aesthesis, the resort on the Athens Riviera at Glyfada, within the resort's own boutique. That is the place in the city where the collection can be seen and tried. An hour by ferry from the port of Lavrio, the collection is also presented at One&Only Kéa Island. PP has no boutique in central Athens and is not presented in Kolonaki or Plaka; the full collection is otherwise shown online, in the men's and women's linen collections.

What Athens itself asks of a garment is specific. The city is built of marble and pale concrete, both of which throw light and heat back upwards, and on summer afternoons the temperature regularly passes the mid-thirties. The Acropolis is an exposed rock with polished stone underfoot and almost no shade, so it is visited early or late, and a long sleeve is a kindness to the forearms. The Bliss Linen Shirt, which is cut with a long sleeve, is right for that climb in Vanille or Sky Blue. Pale colourways are the cooler choice in direct sun, and linen's open weave allows the air that moves up the hill to pass through the cloth.

Evenings have their own code. In summer the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the Roman theatre on the south slope of the Acropolis, hosts concerts and performances as part of the Athens Epidaurus Festival. The audience sits on marble, the sky darkens over the stage, and dress is smart without being formal; high heels are not permitted, in order to protect the stone. For men, PP Trousers 100% Linen in White with a Laos Long Sleeve Linen Shirt in Dark Blue is correct. For women, the Amelia linen dress shirt in Dubarry or Oyster, with flat sandals, belongs there entirely.

The Riviera is the other Athens. South of the centre the coast road runs through Glyfada to Vouliagmeni, with its beach clubs, its sailing marina and its thermal lake under a cliff. Here the day is spent near water. PP natural swim shorts are for swimming; the linen shirt is for lunch and the drive back. For women, the ladies linen set in Sky Blue or Dubarry and the PP linen blouse in Lemon or Orchid cover the same hours. The Journal has written separately on what to wear in Athens across a full stay.

A linen brand is worth the name when it can account for its fibre, show its certificate and stand behind the hands that made the garment. Measured that way, the answer in Athens is found on the Riviera, a half-hour drive from the Acropolis.

The Best Linen Brand in Greece  ·  PP at One&Only and Four Seasons  ·  What to Wear on Kéa