In the Xiaoshu solar term, the weather is not only hot but also hot. It is extremely important to choose fresh and breathable clothes for yourself. So, which fabrics are the coolest to wear? Are pure cotton clothes the first choice for summer? What is the “Tencel” fabric that businesses are promoting so much?
The human body is prone to sweating in summer. Most of the sweat emitted by the human body is evaporated, wiped and adsorbed by close-fitting clothing. Under normal circumstances, , more than 50% of the sweat is wiped or absorbed by close-fitting clothing. It can be seen that the preferred elements of summer clothes are sweat absorption, sweat dispersion, and good breathability.
So, how to choose summer clothing?
1. When you don’t sweat, it is best to use cotton fabric, linen fabric, mulberry silk fabric or bamboo fabric as summer clothing fabric, and viscose Man-made fibers made from natural materials such as Tencel and Modal are also good choices.
Clothes made of different fabrics have different hygroscopicity. Generally speaking, natural fiber fabrics and man-made fiber fabrics have higher hygroscopicity. Natural fibers and man-made fibers are called hydrophilic fibers, while most synthetic fibers have low moisture absorption capacity and are hydrophobic fibers. Therefore, when wearing in situations where you generally don’t sweat, it is best to use natural fiber fabrics such as linen fabrics, mulberry silk fabrics, and cotton fabrics for summer clothing fabrics. From the perspective of moisture release, linen fabric not only has good hygroscopicity, but also has excellent moisture release properties and conducts heat quickly. If you wear linen clothing in summer, it will absorb and dissipate sweat quickly, making the wearer feel smooth and cool.
Extended reading: The hygroscopicity of clothing fabrics is generally related to the official moisture regain of the fiber. The greater the official moisture regain, the better the hygroscopicity. For example, the moisture regain rate of some natural fibers such as: ramie 12%-13%, bamboo pulp fiber 13%, mulberry silk 8%-9%, cotton 7%-8%; while the moisture regain rate of polyester (synthetic fiber) is only 0.4% -0.5%, but with the development of functional fiber technology, the moisture regain of modified hydrophilic polyester can reach 1.6%-1.8%.
Another natural fiber fabric available in summer is bamboo fiber fabric. The fiber is made from high-quality mountain bamboo fiber in the south. It is a green product and is made from this raw material. The clothing has a unique style that is obviously different from cotton and wood-based cellulose fibers: wear-resistant, lint-free, highly moisture-absorbent and quick-drying, highly breathable, smooth to the touch, and good drape.
There is also a type of fabric that is more comfortable to wear in summer and is man-made fiber fabrics such as viscose, modal, and lyocell. Man-made fibers are made from natural polymers (such as wood, cotton linters, milk, peanuts, soybeans, etc.) through spinning. 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 man-made fibers are more natural. The process of manufacturing man-made fibers is complex, which can be simply understood as: viscose is the first generation of wood pulp fiber, modal is the second generation of wood pulp fiber, and lyocell is the third generation of wood pulp fiber. The Modal produced by the Austrian Lenzing Company is made of beech wood that is about 10 years old, while the Lyocell is mainly made of coniferous trees, and the lignin fiber content in it is higher than that of Modal.
Tencel fabric
So, the popular “Tencel” fabric in recent years “What is it again?” “Tencel” is actually a trade name, and its scientific name is Lyocell fiber. It is known as the most popular product in the history of man-made fibers in the past half century. It combines a variety of excellent properties of natural fibers and synthetic fibers. Its official moisture regain is 11.5%. It has the “comfortability” of cotton, the “strength” of polyester, the “luxurious beauty” of wool, and the “unique touch” and “soft drape” of mulberry silk, whether it is dry or wet. state, it maintains better strength than viscose fiber (man-made fiber). At the same time, lyocell fiber is a green fiber. Its raw material is cellulose that can be directly obtained in nature. The production process has no chemical reaction, the solvent used is non-toxic, the waste is biodegradable, and the production process is simple. It can not only save petroleum resources, but also Comply with environmental protection requirements. During the production process, viscose fiber will release harmful gases such as carbon disulfide and hydrogen sulfide, polluting the environment, so it has been gradually eliminated in developed countries.
2. When engaging in high-intensity sports activities or productive labor, choose moisture-absorbing and evacuating fabrics based on polyester that have been physically or hydrophilically modified. Sweat-quick drying functional fabric.
If you wear moisture-absorbent, perspiration-wicking and quick-drying functional clothing that is physically or hydrophilically modified polyester in heavy exercise situations At this time, sweat can quickly moisten such fabrics, and cause the sweat to diffuse through the capillary effect on the surface and inside of the fabric. As the diffusion area increases, the sweat can quickly evaporate to the surrounding environment, achieving edge wetting and The effect of diffusion and evaporation eliminates the discomfort of clothing sticking to the body.
Even if they are both moisture-absorbing-sweat-wicking-quick-drying functional fibers, they are still different in different wearing occasions. need. For example, in general slow running, fast walking or light physical labor, it is more appropriate to wear thinner single-layer moisture-wicking casual sportswear. However, if you sweat after wearing clothing made of this kind of fabric and cannot dry it immediately, you will feel cold after stopping the activity. For this reason, the so-called “one-way moisture-conducting” double-layer structure fabric has emerged – that is, the inner layer of the close-fitting fabric is made of fibers with poor hygroscopicity but good moisture-conducting properties, and the outer layer is made of fibers with good hygroscopicity. The sweat after sweating is not absorbed and diffused (or absorbed and diffused as little as possible) on the skin layer. Instead, it passes through the inner layer, allowing the highly hygroscopic surface layer to “pull” the sweat through, and the sweat will not return. The inner layer can keep the side close to the body dry and there will be no cold feeling after stopping exercise. For example, you will sweat a lot when doing skating, skiing or other strenuous physical activities in the cold season. In order to avoid the cold feeling on the close-fitting surface of the clothing after stopping exercise, it is best to choose clothing with such “one-way moisture conductive” fabrics.
In short, the choice of summer clothing has different needs in different wearing environments. For example, for “white-collar workers” who don’t sweat much, it is better to wear natural fabrics. If you wear polyester-based moisture-absorbing and sweat-wicking functional clothing in such an environment, not only will it not be able to show its superiority, but you will feel uncomfortable. Comfortable. On the contrary, if you wear natural fabrics to engage in heavy-intensity sports activities or production work, a large amount of sweat will be easily absorbed by the fabric, but the sweat will be difficult to evaporate quickly, and the clothing will feel sticky when it sticks to the skin. uncomfortable.
