Byron Bay does not need persuading about linen. The town has worn it for decades, loose and sun-faded, to the beach and to dinner and to the farmers' market on a Thursday morning. A reader searching for a linen brand in Byron Bay already understands the cloth. The more useful question is a narrower one: what separates a linen garment that lasts a summer from one that is still being worn, softer and better, ten summers later. That is a question of fibre, of weaving and of the hand that makes it.

Pieter Petros is a house built on that distinction. Its garments are made by hand, in Dubai and in Belgium, and the core of the collection is cut in certified Belgian linen: cloth woven in Belgium from European flax and carrying the Belgian Linen mark. The buttons are natural too, seashell on most of the shirts and walnut on the shorts and trousers, so that the whole garment is biodegradable by design. In a town that composts, surfs at dawn and reads labels, that is likely to be noticed.

The setting explains the demand. Cape Byron is the most easterly point of the Australian mainland, and its white lighthouse, completed in 1901, stands above a walking track that drops to Wategos Beach and The Pass. The land is Bundjalung country, home of the Arakwal people, who know the place as Cavanbah. From June to November humpback whales pass close under the headland. Summer, from December to February, is subtropical: high twenties by day, warm water, humid air, and brief heavy showers that clear within the hour.

Humid warmth is where good linen shows its character. The fibre draws moisture away from the skin and releases it quickly, so a shirt caught in an afternoon shower can dry surprisingly quickly once the sun returns. A longer flax fibre gives a smoother, stronger yarn, which is why well-made linen softens with washing instead of thinning. The Journal sets out the difference in the grades of linen, and the origin of the cloth in the guide to 100% Belgian linen.

For Byron's days, the garments choose themselves. The Laos short sleeve linen shirt in Oyster, Vanille or Lemon Yellow for the walk to the lighthouse and breakfast afterward. The Vibes linen shirt, cut generously, in Dubarry or Orchid, for an afternoon that has no plan. PP linen shorts in Beige or White on dry land; PP natural swim shorts in Oatmeal or Sapphire Blue for the water at Wategos or Main Beach. The swim shorts are for the sea; linen is for everything that follows it. Each belongs to the men's linen collection.

For women, the ladies linen set in Mint Green or Light Blue is close to a Byron uniform already. The PP linen blouse, hip length with long sleeves, in Lemon or Pink, covers the shoulders against a sun that is stronger here than visitors from the northern hemisphere expect. The Amelia linen dress shirt in Coral Orange or Hibiscus is the evening garment. All three are in the women's linen collection.

The hinterland is half of the visit. Twenty minutes inland the road climbs through macadamia orchards and rainforest remnants to Bangalow, Newrybar and Federal, villages of weatherboard shopfronts and long lunches on verandahs. It is a few degrees cooler up there and the dress is a shade more composed. The Bliss linen shirt in Vanille or Sky Blue with PP casual linen trousers in Oatmeal is right for a table among the fig trees; so is the Monte-Carlo Male in Oyster, whose walnut buttons suit the timber and the green.

The house keeps a small footprint. PP is not presented in any boutique in Byron Bay, or elsewhere in Australia. The house is found in a small number of resort boutiques, among them One&Only Aesthesis near Athens, One&Only Kéa Island, Park Hyatt Dubai, and Four Seasons Resort and Residences, Río Grande, Puerto Rico, and garments are otherwise ordered directly from the house. Readers further up the coast will find the Journal's piece on linen in Noosa.

Byron's own test for a garment is simple and severe: salt, sun, a wash, and again tomorrow. Linen made properly passes it for years. The shirt fades a little, softens a great deal, and ends up looking as though it had always belonged to the person wearing it.

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