The scorching summer heat has arrived. Even before the start of the three hottest days of summer, the temperature here has already exceeded 40℃ recently. The time when you sweat while sitting still is coming again! Apart from air conditioners which can prolong your life, choosing the right clothes can also make you feel cooler.
So, what kind of fabric clothes are the coolest to wear in summer?
First, let's understand the principle: In summer, the human body is prone to sweating. The majority of the sweat excreted by the human body is discharged through evaporation, wiping, and absorption by close-fitting clothes. Generally speaking, more than 50% of the sweat is wiped or absorbed by close-fitting clothes. Therefore, the primary elements of summer clothing are good sweat absorption, sweat dissipation and breathability, etc.
1.Fabric with good sweat-absorbing effect
For situations where you don't sweat, cotton, linen, mulberry silk or bamboo fiber fabrics are preferred. Meanwhile, artificial fibers made from natural materials such as viscose, tencel and modal are also good choices.
Clothing made of different fabrics has different moisture absorption capabilities. Generally speaking, natural fiber fabrics and artificial fiber fabrics have a higher moisture absorption capacity. Wearing them in summer can absorb sweat better, keeping the body dry and giving a cool feeling.
Natural and artificial fibers are called hydrophilic fibers, while most synthetic fibers have a relatively low moisture absorption capacity and are hydrophobic fibers. Therefore, when wearing in general occasions where one does not sweat, it is best to choose natural fiber fabrics such as linen, mulberry silk, and cotton for summer clothing. From the perspective of moisture release, linen fabrics not only have good moisture absorption but also excellent moisture release properties, and they conduct heat quickly. So these are all the preferred materials for summer clothing.
(1)Cotton and linen clothing
Another natural fiber fabric available in summer is bamboo fiber fabric. The clothing made from it has a unique style that is significantly different from cotton and wood-based cellulose fibers: it is wear-resistant, does not pill, has high moisture absorption, dries quickly, is highly breathable, has a smooth hand feel, and has good drape. Bamboo fiber textiles used in summer and autumn make people feel particularly cool and breathable.
(2)Bamboo fiber fabric
Another type of fabric that is relatively comfortable to wear in summer is artificial fiber fabrics such as viscose, modal and Lyocell. Artificial fibers are made from natural polymers (such as wood, cotton linters, milk, peanuts, soybeans, etc.) through spinning processing. It is different from synthetic fibers. The raw materials of synthetic fibers are mostly petroleum, coal and other raw materials, while the raw materials of artificial fibers are relatively natural. The process of manufacturing artificial fibers is complex and can be simply understood as follows: viscose is the first-generation wood pulp fiber, modal is the second-generation wood pulp fiber, and Lyocell is the third-generation wood pulp fiber. The modal produced by Lenzing of Austria is made from beech trees that are about 10 years old, while Lyocell is mainly made from coniferous trees. The lignin fiber content in them is slightly higher than that in modal.
(3)Modal fabric
Modal is a regenerated cellulose fiber, and its raw material is wood pulp cypress made from spruce and beech. Most of the solvents used in the spinning process can be recycled. There is basically no pollution during the production process. It can decompose naturally and is harmless to the environment and human body. Therefore, it is also called green and environmentally friendly fiber.
(4) Lyocell fabric
Lyocell is also a regenerated cellulose fiber. Lyocell fiber is named by the International Synthetic Fiber Bureau and is known as Lyocell fiber in China. The so-called "Tencel" is actually the trade name of the Lyocell fibers produced by Lenzing. Since this is a trade name registered by Lenzing, only the Lyocell fibers produced by Lenzing can be called Tencel. Lyocell fiber fabrics are soft, have good drape and dimensional stability, and are cool and comfortable to wear. When washing, it is necessary to use neutral detergent and iron at medium or low temperatures. However, the products labeled "Tencel" or "Lyocell" on the market vary in quality. When purchasing, it is essential to check whether the fabric material of the item is "100% Lyocell fiber".
2.Fabrics suitable for sports or labor
When engaging in high-intensity sports activities or productive labor, functional fabrics with functions such as moisture absorption, sweat wicking and quick drying can be selected.
If you are in a high-intensity exercise setting, it is recommended to choose clothing with functions such as moisture-absorbing, sweat-wicking and quick-drying. Sweat can quickly wet such fabrics and spread the sweat on the surface and inside the fabric through the capillary effect. As the diffusion area increases, the sweat can quickly evaporate to the surrounding environment, achieving the effect of wetting, diffusing and evaporating simultaneously. There will be no uncomfortable feeling of the clothing adhering to the body. Many sportswear works on this principle.
Even for clothing made of moisture-wicking and quick-drying functional fibers, there are still different requirements in different wearing occasions. For instance, in general situations such as slow running, fast walking or engaging in light physical labor, it is more appropriate to wear thin single-layer moisture-wicking and sweat-absorbing casual sportswear. However, if you sweat while exercising in clothing made of this kind of fabric and it doesn't dry immediately, you will feel cold after stopping the activity. For this reason, "single-directional moisture-proof" clothing came into being.
The inner layer of the "unidirectional moisture-conducting" fabric is made of fibers with poor moisture absorption but good moisture-conducting performance, while the outer layer is composed of fibers with good moisture absorption. After sweating during exercise, the sweat is not absorbed or diffused (or absorbed and diffused as little as possible) in the layer that is close to the skin. Instead, it passes through this inner layer, allowing the surface layer with good moisture absorption to "pull" the sweat over, and the sweat will not return to the inner layer. It can keep the side that is in contact with the body dry, and there will be no cold feeling even after stopping exercise. It is also a high-quality fabric that can be chosen in summer.
Post time: May-08-2025
