* I received this item free as a gift to review from Tradlands so this is a kind of sponsored post
** This also means I've finally 'made it' as a legit blogger because I have the utmost respect for all the bloggers Tradlands chooses to sponsor including Andrea and Grechen!
So right before I left for Burning Man I got two offers of free items to review and feature on my blog (so you can understand why I was in full commodification mode). But man oh man I was super excited when Tradlands asked me if I wanted to review a couple of their items because like I stated above, I really love all the bloggers Tradlands partners with and I felt so honored to be asked. {And if you're not familiar with Tradlands, they're an awesome company that makes clothing ethically and sustainably. You can read more about this slow fashion brand here.}
As soon as I hopped over to their site, I knew which item I really wanted to review, and it's this Faroe linen top in a light indigo color. I just love linen for the summer and I really like the casual yet sophisticated cut of the top. The sleeves are the perfect length to hide my farmer tan and I love the slim silhouette of the rest of the top. I'm wearing a small. The length is a bit long for my 5'4" frame, but I like the tunic-y look here (also it's hiding some major VPL going on with these new Grana flat front silk ankle pants--review coming soon).
{Wearing: Tradlands Faroe top, Grana silk flat front ankle pants, Everlane Day Heel and Hermes Lindy 30 (similar here)}
As you know I love to compare fabrics between brands and this year I've tried a lot of linen items, so I feel fairly qualified to give you my linen quality rankings. My all-time favorite is still Elizabeth Suzann's linen (reviewed their Georgia Tee here), but I have to say Tradlands comes in second, followed by Everlane and then Grana linen. The Tradlands linen is super thick and feels really durable, but also smooth and not too scratchy. It's not quite soft, but I think that's going to come with time and multiple washings (and I'll be sure to update these rankings if they change after washing this Tradlands top a couple times).
Right now California is still hot as heck so I'll be wearing this for at least a couple more weeks if not more. But this is definitely one of my top favorite linen tops I've tried this year and right now it's on sale (in fact their whole clearance section looks super awesome).
Update: I washed this shirt and it came out super stiff (seriously like cardboard). I think it might be my least favorite linen item. I've never had a linen item like this before and I am qualifying my review by saying buyer beware on this one.
March 2018 update: Because of the reason stated above, this specific item for Tradlands has fallen under the "worst" category in this blog post about the best and worst items I received free for review.