 The term "linens" refers to lightweight undergarments such as shirts, chemises, waist-shirts, lingerie (a cognate with "linen"), and detachable shirt collars and cuffs, all of which were historically made almost exclusively out of linen.The inner layer of fine composite cloth garments (as for example dress jackets) was traditionally made of linen, hence the word "lining".Over the past 30 years the end use for linen has changed dramatically.