Polyester Was: RE: [pct-l] cotton or nylon

[m.karon@attbi.com (Marshall Karon)]

Although I love my Coolmax polyester T shirts, from my experience, I
wouldn't use them in the desert sun. The rays seem to go right through and
burn (not just sun burn, but heat burn). I found that a light weight cotton
T-shirt was just great. When it got cool, I used the Coolmax - as I did
after Kennedy Meadows and on most of my hikes. My experience may be based on
the color of the polyester shirt - it was dark. Other hikers also wore
cotton in the desert. When it is really hot and dry with the sun blazing,
everything dries almost instantly. True, Coolmax seems to last forever while
the cotton self destructs in a few weeks. But, we aren't talking about
designer fashion here, so who cares if you go through four $5 cotton
T-shirts?

Marshall Karon
Portland, OR
m.karon@attbi.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brick Robbins" <brick@fastpack.com>
To: "Heidi Clark" <clarkh@ohsu.edu>; <PCT-L@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Friday, December 27, 2002 3:15 PM
Subject: Re: Polyester Was: RE: [pct-l] cotton or nylon


> >So you wore polyester long john pants and found them
>  >cooler than nylon pants?  Or are you not talking about
>  >pants, but about clothing fabric in general?
>
> I wore nylon bicycle shorts, and had polyester microfiber wind pants (non
> coated) that I mostly wore for mosquito protection. I prefer bare legs in
> the heat and in the rain. I only wear long trausers when the temperature
> approaches freezing, which it seldom did during the day while I was
> walking. I did wear the pants at night inside my sleeping bag quite often.
>
>  >And I was thinking cotton would be cooler in high temps because of
>  >the fact that it stays wetter longer and is breathable/durable.  And if
>  >conditions are wet, just use rain pants over them or switch to long
>  >johns + rain pants.  And if weather is cool and dry, body heat will
>  >dry them out while wearing them.
>
> Cotton really sucks for several reasons.
>
> 1) When it gets wet, it has little insulating value, so you cannot count
on
> it for warmth, so it is not multi use. It will not dry inside a rain shell
> , but coolmax will.
>
> 2) In hot climates, the cotton holds onto the sweat, instead of
> evaporating. No evaporation, no cooling. The sweat ends up dripping and
> that does you no good as far as cooling goes.
>
> 3) Cotton clothes are quite a bit heavier than synthetics. Especially the
> microfiber stuff.
>
> 4) Though cotton does wear well, it is not nearly as hardy as almost any
> synthetic.
>
> The only good thing I can think of is cotton is quite a bit more
comfortable.
>
> --
> Brick Robbins                       mailto:brick@fastpack.com
>
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