Should you wear cotton when hiking?, Cotton is one of the most commonly used clothing materials. Clothes made from it are soft, skin-friendly, breathable, and durable. However, when it comes to hiking, climbing, or other aerobic activities, the choice of cotton clothing is rather less suitable.
Cotton clothing has many disadvantages for this type of exercise. Hiking, climbing, and other sports wore by the clothing should have excellent temperature regulation, quick-drying, sweat-wicking, anti-odor performance.
The following are four reasons why cotton products are not suitable for hiking, trekking, climbing, and other aerobic activities.
Cotton Excessive water absorption
Cotton absorbs water very easily, it can absorb more than 2700% of its own weight. Polyester, on the other hand, absorbs only 0.4% of its own weight, silk 30%, and merino wool 33%.
Clothes are worn while hiking does not require this high water absorption. Instead, what is needed for hiking clothing material is quick-drying clothes.
Cotton absorbs a lot of moisture, and if you sweat a lot, the moisture causes the clothes to become heavy and makes them lose their warmth.
Temperature regulation
Clothing while hiking should have the ability to regulate temperature. Clothes keep you warm when it's cold and keep your body cool when it's hot. Given that water is far more thermally conductive than air, your skin and clothes have to be kept relatively dry to do so.
Even if you sweat, make sure your skin and clothes are relatively dry. If your clothes are soaked with sweat, the heat from your body will quickly transfer to your clothes, resulting in a rapid loss of body heat.
This is why you don't wear cotton products when hiking. When hiking in cold weather, cotton clothing is often soaked with sweat, which can cause a rapid loss of body heat.
Long drying time
The high absorbency of cotton causes cotton products to become dry slowly as well. Hiking clothes, on the other hand, need to have the ability to become dry quickly in order to reduce heat loss and maintain body temperature.Check out our quick-drying apparel.
Cotton products are heavier
Generally speaking, cotton products are heavier than synthetic fiber products. The reason for this is still attributed to their water absorption. Because cotton products are so absorbent and absorb more water, they become heavy when soaked in sweat.
In addition to cotton products, common clothing materials are polyester, merino wool, nylon, and silk. If you really prefer cotton products, there are some blends of cotton and synthetic materials on the market. These mixed products, some cotton content products up to 40%, some are polyester and elastane.
These hybrid products are much less absorbent than cotton products, so they dry more quickly. They have the softness and skin-friendliness of cotton products, but also better temperature regulation.
