We believe you’ve landed here because you’ve experienced heavy rain or are about to on an upcoming excursion. We can all agree that walking around soaked from head to toe while shivering can take the fun out of anything.
Especially when wearing the wrong fabrics, which will only make matters worse. So, what are the right fabrics? A better question is, which material provides warmth even when wet?
Thankfully, we have unicorn material that allows us to enjoy extreme weather while staying warm. Continue reading to learn more about this material, as well as fabrics to go for and fabrics to avoid on a rainy day.
Which Material Provides Warmth Even When Wet?
That’s going to be wool! Whether you’re going on an adventure or just getting through a rainy day, wool fabric is the way to go. Wool, if tightly woven and kept in good condition, can keep you warm even when wet. It retains heat by trapping moisture in your body.
Add to that its insulation properties and coziness, and you have one of the most popular materials among campers. Wool is used in the majority of outdoor gear brands’ products, including sweaters, pants, gloves, hats, etc.
But does wool’s uniqueness end with keeping you warm? Nope, wool has a variety of other properties that make us fall in love with it even more:
Stain Resistant
Wool’s natural protective layer on its surface makes it resistant to dirt and oil-based liquids. Simply put, this layer is so densely packed that it makes it difficult for dirt and liquid to penetrate. They usually sit on the surface for a while, allowing you to clean them before they’re absorbed.
Odor Resistant
Our confidence automatically boosts while wearing wool because of that feature. Wool fibers help prevent sweat accumulation by absorbing large amounts of water vapor.
It absorbs 30 times more water vapor than polyester and twice as much as cotton. As a result, there’s no room for sweat or bacteria accumulation, and thus no bad odors.
Breathable
Wool is a naturally breathable fabric. It absorbs moisture and allows it to evaporate, preventing you from feeling any stickiness while wearing it. On the contrary, it feels light, comfortable, and, most importantly, fluffy on our skin.
Flame Resistant
It’s flame-resistant due to its keratin protein composition, which is another natural characteristic we admire. Wool requires extremely high levels of oxygen to burn due to the high nitrogen and water content of its fibers.
If exposed to a large source of fire, it can ignite but won’t increase flames and will usually extinguish the fire quickly. The best part is that even when it burns, it smolders rather than melting and sticking to your skin, which is an incredible safety feature.
Environment-Friendly
Wool is regarded as a highly environmentally friendly material. It’s completely natural and renewable as it’s made from the hairs of sheep and other animals.
Moreover, as we mentioned earlier, wool is made of keratin, which is the same protein found in human hair. In other words, wool is completely biodegradable. Soil microorganisms can easily break down wool and use its particles to sustain the biological life cycle.
What Materials Should You Avoid on Rainy Days?
Now that you know that wool is an excellent choice for the dead of winter, it’s time to know what’s on the other side of the spectrum.
We use a variety of materials daily for warmth. However, on a rainy day there are two that won’t stand their ground:
1. Cotton
Cotton is the most commonly used fiber among naturally produced materials. Cotton, like wool, is breathable, comfortable, and naturally sustainable. Yet, wearing it in the rain could be your worst nightmare.
Cotton absorbs water quickly. Thus, it’ll leave you with a soaking heavy feeling that won’t go away shortly; it’ll take a long time to dry.
2. Down
Whether it’s duck or goose down, getting it wet is never a good idea. We’re guessing you spent big bucks on that Down isolated item, so keeping it dry would be the wise decision.
Although down-insulated items have a DWR (Durable Water-Repellent Finish), this doesn’t completely protect them. Your usage rate will affect the DWR level over time, and in the event of heavy rain, water will eventually reach the down.
Unfortunately, when the down becomes wet, it gradually loses its thermal insulation capability.
What Water-Resistant Materials Help You Stay Warm?
Moving on to some man-made water-resistant materials that can also keep you warm while it’s raining. However, the warmth provided by wool while wet remains unmatched.
So, we can refer to those materials as wool’s doppelgangers:
1. Polyester
Polyester’s popularity has been rapidly increasing, according to the Textile Exchange Preferred Fiber Materials report in 2017. Where it contributes approximately half of the total fiber market and 80% of synthetic fiber.
That’s for a reason. For starters, it’s extremely durable and won’t tear or stretch easily. Besides, polyester is moisture-resistant, which means it’ll wick away water droplets rather than absorb them.
This level of resistance, however, makes it less breathable because it traps moisture and doesn’t release it as quickly as wool. As a result, if you sweat while wearing polyester, you’ll most likely feel the heat and stickiness of your sweat.
2. Fleece
Fleece is typically made of polyester and is considered a close substitute for wool, in terms of warmth. This synthetic material, despite weighing half as much as wool, will help your body retain heat but is not wind resistant. On the other hand, wool has a higher heat insulation level and is windproof.
Moreover, fleece repels water and dries quickly, but, like polyester, it should be avoided in sweaty scenarios.
3. Nylon Taffeta
Nylon taffeta is a synthetic nylon fiber-based fabric. It’s extremely resilient and is both weather and tear-resistant. It’s tightly woven and polyurethane coated for water resistance.
Nonetheless, it’s not a fabric that’ll keep you warm. That’s why we always recommend it as a top coat for a layered winter outfit.
One drawback shared by all of these synthetic fabrics is that, unlike wool, none of them are biodegradable. They are the polar opposite; it’ll take hundreds of years for them to decompose.
Wrapping Up
If you know what materials to wear, extreme weather shouldn’t sound so bad. Focus on layering your outfit in the proper sequence based on the properties of each material, and you should be fine.
For example, which material provides warmth even when wet and is also breathable? Because it’s wool, it’s best to keep it as the first layer. Then, for outer layers choose materials with water resistance characteristics, such as nylon taffeta.